Diabetes drug Metformin may be a cancer fighter, too.

[Stinky The Clown]

http://www.webmd.com/cancer/news/20121130/diabetes-drug-metformin-cancer

Metformin, a very cheap and widely used diabetes drug, in use for more than 50 years, may be showing significant potential in fighting such cancers as breast, colon, prostate, pancreatic, and ovarian.

[hedda_foil]

1. More on the Mayo clinic study -- very encouraging.

In the study, Mayo clinic researchers followed 61 women with diabetes taking metformin who also had ovarian cancer, and 178 ovarian cancer patients without diabetes who were not taking the drug.

Even though the metformin-takers and non-takers were matched for age, ovarian cancer stage, and other key variables likely to impact survival, the women who took the drug had improved survival.

After five years, 67% of women who took metformin had not died from ovarian cancer, compared to 47% of women without diabetes who did not take the drug. The researchers also found that among women with diabetes who took insulin or other diabetes drugs, 43% of those taking insulin and 34% of those taking other diabetes drugs had not died from ovarian cancer.

The study was published online today in the journal Cancer.