OU Health Tests Deer Antler Compound As Cancer Mouth Sore Treatment

OU Health says deer antlers could be the key to helping cancer patients get rid of mouth sores.

A clinical trial tested a drug called EC18 to treat mouth sores caused by radiation and chemotherapy in patients with head and neck cancer.

The drug comes from a naturally-occurring compound found in deer antlers.

Researchers say the drug helped decrease mouth sores in trial patients by 35%, while those without the drug had 13 days of severe sores.

Doctors say the drug is promising because there is no good remedy for the sores other than managing the pain with numbing drugs in an already-sensitive area.