

Five-Cent Diabetes Pill From 1958 May Be New Cancer Drug - tshtf
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-25/five-cent-diabetes-pill-from-1958-may-be-new-cancer-drug.html

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tzs
Cool. I'm on metformin (the drug from the article) and Actos for my American
Diabetes[1]. Maybe metformin's anti-cancer properties will counter Actos'
known pro-cancer properties! :-)

[1] By American Diabetes I mean diabetes due to being overweight. A few years
ago, I changed my eating habits, got down to merely chubby, and all traces of
diabetes went away. Eventually, changes in work threw my schedule into
disarray, I stopped making time to go home and cook and reverted to too much
fast food, much of the weight came back, and so did the diabetes.

~~~
mahyarm
Subway salads & In&Out protein style or McDonalds burgers & milkshakes style
fast food?

~~~
tzs
A mix, although shakes are rare. It's the tempting add-ons (e.g., cookies at
Subway) and the late night "I didn't stock any good snacks at home to avoid
temptation, and so I end up going to the convenience store" runs that are the
killers.

~~~
mahyarm
Stock better snacks, double your orders of healthier food?

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JoeAltmaier
Ok, now to protect my health I should be taking this drug (Metformin?), taking
aspirin, drinking a glass of wine, eating blueberries... what have I missed?
Maybe a pill that combines all that? There's an actionable startup idea!

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tptacek
You're only going to take metformin if you have risk factors and/or metabolic
syndrome/diabetes. Metformin has side effects. It's not as simple as aspirin.

(I'm not on it, but my wife was after our first kid was born and there was a
concern about gestational diabetes).

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pw
I might be wrong, but my understanding is that metformin is _remarkably_ safe.
I know you shouldn't take it if you have kidney or liver disease, and you
mentioned the risk for women who are or might become pregnant, but except in
those cases, I think gastrointestinal upset is about the only side-effect.

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rogerbinns
The gastrointestinal upset is _very_ prevalent, especially when people start
taking it. It is also a good idea to avoid alcohol completely while on
metformin. Metformin isn't a miracle cure - it helps reduce sugar absorption
and generation by a (little) bit. Good old fashioned diet and exercise are far
better, with metformin just taking the edge off. The best way of affecting
long term public health is to address diet and exercise rather than giving
everyone 5c pills.

~~~
rogerbinns
Also not mentioned is that metformin can severely reduce B12 uptake. Lack of
B12 can result in nervous system issues, and is very similar to neuropathy.

You have a store of several years of B12 so it can take quite a while before
depletion sets in.

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paulsutter
Are they saying that controlling blood sugar reduces cancer, or that metformin
controls blood sugar -and- reduces cancer through some other mechanism?

There is enormous evidence of health problems caused by high blood sugar. If
this applies to cancer too, the actionable plan is to start measuring one's
own blood sugar (either daily or with an implant which can do it
continuously), and learn to control it. I'm ready to try this myself.

Nothing beats direct measurement / "what gets measures gets fixed".

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rms
I've been taking this on and off before meals as an anti-aging drug. Glad it's
getting some mainstream coverage. It's quite possible just about everyone
should be taking it, certainly everyone on a typical American high-carb diet.

~~~
sliverstorm
_It's quite possible just about everyone should be taking it_

Statements like this instantly set off my alarm bells. A drug that _everybody_
should be routinely taking? Call me skeptical.

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jrockway
We all take powerful drugs every day: it's just that we mostly get them from
food. (Example: Vitamin C and scurvy.)

~~~
sliverstorm
By that argument, glucose is also a drug.

There's a key difference between drugs and foods. For example, Vitamin C is
required for synthesis, metabolism, and enzyme operation [1]. Caffeine simply
enhances alertness. Your body will cease to function correctly without Vitamin
C; not so without Caffeine (unless you are fostering a dependance)

[1]:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_C#Physiological_functio...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_C#Physiological_function_in_mammals)

~~~
rms
Sure, glucose is a drug. There's a lot of overlap between foods, supplements,
and drugs, and for the most part the distinction is created by bureaucrats at
the FDA.

My favorite example of something that is simultaneously a food, drug, and
supplement is the Seville orange. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitter_orange>

The bitter orange is delicious with stronger orange flavor than a normal
orange, particularly in the peel. Most commercially used "natural orange
flavor" is derived from bitter orange peels. The bitter orange contains a
powerful set of ephedra-like substances, which are quite powerfully mind
altering. A single bitter orange is actually uncomfortably stimulating for
most people, in the sense that people have enough of a sense for this kind of
thing that they stop eating before they consume an entire orange.

But even though sour orange extract is regulated as a supplement, it works as
a powerful drug, and an unusually dangerous one at that. It still grows on
trees and is very delicious and perhaps available blended in a $15 cocktail
near you. Most bartenders don't realize they are adding a stimulant to a drink
when they add Seville orange.

~~~
sliverstorm
Well, that settles it, clearly if every food is also a drug, that means any
drug is safe to take in large quantities on a regular basis.

~~~
jrockway
All he's saying is that the line's blurry. If you drink 50 gallons of water in
a day, you will overdose -- everything is harmful in some quantity, food or
otherwise.

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tocomment
How does this drug work? Does it reduce your blood sugar somehow? Would it be
useful for weight loss?

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TheAmazingIdiot
Hmm. So the way I read this:

We have an old drug that helps diabetes to treat cancer.. The drug costs
$.05/pill, for diabetes.

It will be called "Nocan", and feature a $24/pill cost, due to a new patent
being granted. *

*Just like Eli Lilly with PMS-PMDD and name change of Prozac to Sarafem. All you need do is bribe FDA for new "disease" name, and you have another 17 yr patent.

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tptacek
Huh? How do you patent metformin? It's an extremely widely prescribed drug.

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stephengillie
You don't. You patent "Nocan", a drug with an _extremely similar_ (most would
say "identical") chemical structure. Metformin is a diabetes medication, while
Nocan will be a cancer drug, so they're totally different. The diseases aren't
even handled by the same medical specialists. ;)

~~~
tptacek
If metformin works for cancer the way aspirin does for heart disease, with an
overall long-term prophylactic effect, people will just take metformin. It is
very easy to get metformin.

~~~
danielweber
I was going to say that your doctor won't be allowed to prescribe metformin,
but I checked and the FDA is fine with your doc independently prescribing
drugs for off-label use. The manufacturer of metformin isn't allowed to market
it as an anti-cancer drug, but what doctor won't be aware of this?

