A look at antipsychotic drugs as possible cancer treatments
Original title: Repurposing Antipsychotic Agents in Oncology: Mechanistic Rationale, Emerging Evidence, and Therapeutic Potential.
How far along is this research?
- Lab cells
- Animals
- Review
- Tested in people
This looks across many earlier studies rather than running a new one.
This is a summary of where the science is going, not a new result.
The short version
Some drugs made for mental illness may also act on cancer cells, but this is still early science.
What was studied. This is a review paper. The authors pulled together lab work and early human studies on antipsychotic drugs used against cancer.
What they found. In lab studies, these drugs slowed cancer cell growth and helped kill cancer cells. Some also cut down the stem-like cancer cells that help tumors come back. Small early studies in people, including chlorpromazine in glioblastoma: A glioma that is given grade 4, the highest grade. It grows fast. Treatment usually starts soon after it is found. It often means surgery, then radiation and chemotherapy. See the glossary and thioridazine in a blood cancer, showed the drugs act on the body as expected. Those studies did not show that the drugs fight cancer.
What this means, and what it doesn't
What it could mean: Nothing here changes care today. The authors say side effects at higher doses, trouble getting enough drug to the tumor, and mixed safety signals are still big problems. The next step they suggest is careful trials that pick the right patients.
What it doesn't mean: This is a review of where the science stands, not a new treatment result. Most of the findings come from cells and animals. The few human studies were small and did not test whether people got better. This is not a cure, and it is not something you can ask for as treatment now.
Source: PubMed, September 16, 2026 · Read the original
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