FACT CHECK: Could Viagra really help stop cancer from spreading?

Research does not explicitly state that cancer patients should start taking Viagra.

A little blue pill best known for treating erectile dysfunction may have an unexpected second act: helping stop cancer from spreading.

A July 2026 study published in the peer-reviewed journal Cancer Research found that sildenafil, the active ingredient in Viagra, restricted cancer metastasis in mouse and human cancer models by disrupting how cancer cells use cholesterol. The research was led by scientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science.

Metastasis happens when cancer cells break away from the original tumor and spread to other parts of the body. The World Health Organization notes that widespread metastases are the primary cause of death from cancer.

Cutting off cancer’s cholesterol

Researchers found that sildenafil blocks an enzyme called PDE5A, increasing levels of a signaling molecule called cGMP. This, in turn, interferes with the transport of cholesterol inside cells.

That matters because cholesterol plays an important role in cancer cells’ ability to build membranes, migrate and invade other tissues. According to the Cancer Research study, sildenafil caused cholesterol to become trapped inside cellular compartments, reducing what was available for cancer cells to use and impairing metastasis.

Researchers also found that combining sildenafil with statins, commonly prescribed cholesterol-lowering drugs, produced an additional effect: statins reduced cholesterol production while sildenafil disrupted its movement within cells.

The team also examined around five million health records spanning two decades. The Weizmann Institute reported that cancer patients who had taken sildenafil showed better survival, particularly when sildenafil use was combined with statins.

Promising, but not a cancer treatment

The findings do not mean cancer patients should start taking Viagra.

The biological experiments involved cells and animal models, while the human findings came from observational health records rather than a clinical trial. Researchers stressed that clinical studies are still needed to determine whether giving sildenafil to cancer patients can safely prevent or reduce metastasis.

For now, Viagra remains a drug for its approved medical uses—not a cancer treatment.

But the findings raise a fascinating possibility: a medicine famous for one purpose may someday help doctors fight something far more deadly.

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