This was not a trial of ordinary tapeworm tablets or a treatment in people. The study tested an experimental niclosamide-carrying formulation in mice.
What did the mouse study find?
In a mouse model of endometriosis-like lesions, researchers gave a single intraperitoneal dose of the experimental formulation containing niclosamide at 25 or 50 mg/kg. Control mice received the carrier without niclosamide. Two weeks later, the treated groups had fewer and smaller lesions and less measured hyperalgesia than controls, according to the paper published online in Advanced Healthcare Materials on 30 August 2026.
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The pain-related measure was sensitivity to pressure applied to the abdomen and hind paws. It indicates reduced pain-related sensitivity in these mice; it does not demonstrate pain relief in patients. ScienceAlert’s 3 October 2026 report says that, at the two-week assessment, four of eight mice in the lower-dose group and five of eight in the higher-dose group had no detectable lesions.
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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesWhat exactly was the treatment?
The researchers attached niclosamide to an engineered carrier called FA-2DG-D, a folic-acid-conjugated 2-deoxyglucose dendrimer. The resulting formulation, FA-2DG-D-Niclo, was designed to target folate receptor beta (FRβ), a receptor expressed by certain macrophages associated with endometriosis lesions.
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The authors intended the carrier to improve niclosamide’s aqueous solubility, control its release inside cells and direct it toward selected immune cells. In the mouse model, they observed lesion-associated accumulation of the carrier and uptake by FRβ-positive macrophages. The proposed strategy is therefore different from simply taking niclosamide as an antiparasitic drug.
Were people treated or did the study establish a human benefit?
No. The treatment findings came from mice. The human component concerned the proposed biological target: the researchers analyzed peritoneal washings from four patients aged 19–37 and examined ten previously published human cell datasets. Those samples and datasets helped characterize FRβ-expressing macrophages; the patients did not receive the formulation.
The authors describe endometriosis as affecting an estimated 10% of reproductive-aged women, or roughly 190 million people worldwide, citing prior prevalence research in their 2026 paper. Those figures are background estimates, not results of this treatment experiment.
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Is the tapeworm drug treatment available now?
No. The targeted formulation remains experimental in the cited study. Corresponding author Kanako Hayashi, a reproductive-biology professor and researcher at Washington State University, told ScienceAlert that the work was “still in preclinical stages” and “still a long way from being commercialized.”
The paper describes niclosamide itself as an FDA-approved anthelmintic, but that status does not mean the engineered formulation is approved, or that niclosamide is approved to treat endometriosis. The paper also identifies poor aqueous solubility and low oral bioavailability as limitations motivating the carrier. Do not use or seek out antiparasitic tablets as a substitute for medical care based on this mouse study.
What remains unknown?
- Whether this formulation is effective in people; the study reports no human treatment results.
- Whether benefits persist beyond the two-week assessment reported for the mouse experiment.
- Whether repeat dosing is safe or effective.
- How a human dose, delivery schedule or clinical use might be established.
- How the formulation compares with established endometriosis treatments; the mouse experiment did not include standard clinical care as a comparator.
The paper’s authors call FRβ-positive macrophages a potential target and present FA-2DG-D-Niclo as a candidate nonhormonal nanomedicine. That is a promising preclinical interpretation, not proof that it treats endometriosis in patients.
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