What is the drug niclosamide used for?

Niclosamide (CAS 50-65-7)——born in the 1960s as an anti-tapeworm pill, it is now simultaneously leveling up across rice fields, oncology, and green chemistry, becoming the highest-value "multi-agent" on the market.

1. Snail Slayer
In irrigation canals from Hunan to the Nile it wipes out Oncomelania and Pomacea—the intermediate hosts of schistosomiasis and rat lung-worm—at 0.2 mg L⁻¹. Half-life < 48 h, so fish and shrimp are back before the next water-turn.

2. Rice-Paddy Defender
One 200 g a.i. ha⁻¹ broadcast cuts golden-apple snail damage 90%, pushing rice yields up 12% while cutting synthetic molluscicide costs 40%.

3. Cancer-lab MVP
Beyond the paddies it's moon-lighting as a mitochondrial uncoupler: blocks oxidative phosphorylation, collapses ATP, triggers AMPK-mediated autophagy. Phase-I/II trials are exploring it against NRAS-mutant melanoma and colon spheres.

4. Green Credentials
Log Kow 3.9 → low bio-accumulation; soil photolysis DT₅₀ 3 days; no VOC, no PFAS, no heavy-metal baggage. An old drug that checks the 2025 sustainability box.

When you need a rapid, residue-friendly molluscicide, anthelmintic or an off-the-shelf mitochondrial uncoupler for your next assay, skip the fancy billion-dollar candidates—dust off the golden oldie. Sometimes the best new trick is an old molecule wielded smarter.