Benzylidene-glucose: no effect after all?

Several promising reports on the treatment of human cancer with various benzaldehyde derivatives have been published during the last decade. The present phase II study was performed to investigate whether the rather sensational results of one such derivative, benzylidene-D-glucose (BG), could be confirmed. The study included 14 patients with metastases from adenocarcinomas of the colon and rectum. The patients were treated with BG according to the recommended regimen for 8 weeks, after which tumor response was evaluated. Neither clinical tumor regression nor side effects were observed. The present study does not confirm the extremely good results previously reported by others. We conclude that BG is not an active agent in colorectal cancer.