Metformin Efficacy and Safety for Gastric Intestinal Metaplasia

Summary

Gastric intestinal metaplasia significantly increases the risk of gastric cancer. Metformin, a biguanide, which is widely used for treating diabetes mellitus, has recently been suggested to have a suppressive effect on tumorigenesis and cancer cell growth. The investigators devised a prospective randomized controlled trial to evaluate the chemopreventive effect of metformin against gastric intestinal metaplasia and the safety of this drug in non-diabetic gastric intestinal metaplasia patients.

Timeline

Start

2022-04-01

Primary completion

2023-05-31

Completion

2023-10-31

Outcome

Met primary endpoint

paper Compared with folate users (control group), metformin users had a greater rate of regression of IM PMID 40518567 ↗

paper interval [CI] 1.01-2.36; P = 0.04 PMID 40518567 ↗

Publications

• Li S, Li X, Zhu X, Zhao X, Qu X, Lin K, Yao N, Wang N, Chen M, Zhang L, Shi Y. Therapeutic effect of metformin on reversing gastric intestinal metaplasia. Chin Med J (Engl). 2025 Jun 16. doi: 10.1097/CM9.0000000000003675. Online ahead of print.

Drugs

Evaluation	Drug	Modality	Dose	Route
Subject	Metformin	Small molecule	500 mg	Oral
Comparator	folic acid	Small molecule	5 mg	Oral

Indications