Over 300,000 oral cancer diagnoses are made worldwide each year, including more than 50,000 cases in North America and approximately 500 cases in British Columbia, where numbers are projected to increase in the future. Due to the aggressive nature of the disease, the best line of defense is to stop it as soon as possible.
There is currently no accepted treatment available for mild or moderate dysplasia; however, Haack was referred to a clinical trial—conducted through Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute—that prescribes metformin to patients with pre-cancerous oral lesions.
“This is the first really promising idea for how to prevent the progression of oral cancers,” says Dr. Denise Laronde, a co-principal investigator of the phase 2a metformin for oral cancer prevention clinical trial.
“This trial could give us our first line of defense against oral cancers, as no agreed upon treatment for low-grade pre-oral cancers currently exists.”
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