Low Dose Metformin Boosts DCA? We have shown that DCA (Sodium Dichloroacetate) is effective against cancer. Metformin is a common diabetes drug with over 40 million prescriptions issued in 2008 alone (2). In recent years, several studies have presented evidence suggesting a potential role for metformin in anti-cancer therapy. Preclinical studies have demonstrated several anticancer molecular mechanisms of metformin including mTOR inhibition, cytotoxic effects, and immunomodulation. For example, metformin inhibited the growth of a subpopulation of breast cancer cells shown to have such property in culture and reduced their ability to form tumors in mice and when combined with trastuzumab, metformin reduced the cancer-initiating cell population in Her2-amplified breast cancer cells. Metformin Supplementation and Cancer Treatment Feb 19, 2013 Brian D. Lawenda, M.D. The Oncology Association of Naturopathic Physicians (OncANP) annual conference was chock-full of excellent talks on the use of a variety of supplements that may be useful in helping to reduce the risk of cancer development, progression and recurrence. In 1957, the first results from a clinical trial of the diabetes drug metformin in patients were published. Yet, it would take nearly 40 years for the drug to be approved in the United States as a treatment for type 2 diabetes. Now researchers want to know whether this decades-old drug may have additional uses in anoth Metformin prevents cancer, reducing cancer by a third in observational studies. Researchers giving the drug to healthy seniors in a trial. The dose of metformin in this study was low, and a more recent pilot study, the Metformin in Advanced Lung Cancer (METAL) study concluded that the recommended phase 2 dose of metformin should be 1500 mg/day combined with erlotinib (a tyrosine kinase inhibitor) in stage IV NSCLC harboring the wild type EGFR gene as second line agents. This phase I / II trial studies the side effects and best dose of metformin hydrochloride when given together with cisplatin and external beam radiation therapy in treating participants with stage III-IV head and neck squamous cell cancer. Metformin was also used as adjuvant therapy in cancer patients, and most of the cancer clinical trials of metformin use the same doses typically used to treat diabetes. Summary Preclinical evidence suggests that metformin appears to inhibit the proliferation and growth of certain types of cancer. Blood sugar control is very important during pregnancy, and your dose needs may be different during each trimester of pregnancy. Tell your doctor if you become pregnant while taking metformin. Tell your doctor if you become pregnant while taking metformin.