There was a recent story in the Lake Cowichan Gazette where a woman who was diagnosed with mesothelioma and given six months to live used pawpaw to treat herself. As she was too weak for conventional treatment she decided to look for alternative remedies and used an extract of the herb pawpaw along with other alternative health programs. She noticed an affect after one month of taking the herb.

There have been recent tests done on extracts from the bark of the pawpaw on their anti-tumour effects and the results are very promising. According to studies performed at Purdue University, “Extracts of paw paw are among the most potent of the 3,500 species of higher plants screened for bioactive compounds in our laboratories…[they have] powerful cytotoxicity, in vivo antitumor, pesticidal, antimalarial, anthelmintic, piscicidal, antiviral, and antimicrobial effects…encapsulated extract has been effectively used by certain cancer patients as a botanical supplement product.”