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The vitamin is niacin, also called vitamin B3. University of Calgary researchers are testing controlled-release niacin alongside standard chemotherapy and radiotherapy for newly diagnosed glioblastoma. An interim result—82% of 24 participants were progression-free at six months—is an early signal, not proof that niacin treats the cancer or a reason to start a supplement.

What the researchers are testing

The University of Calgary team is studying niacin as an addition to recommended chemotherapy and radiotherapy, not as a replacement for standard care. The phase I-II study assesses dose and safety and explores whether adding niacin may improve progression-free survival: the time a patient remains alive without the cancer getting worse. The interim clinical paper was published in the Journal of Neuro-Oncology in 2025, under the title “A phase I-II study of niacin in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma: safety and interim phase II analysis.”

The idea grew from preclinical work suggesting niacin can increase activity in myeloid immune cells, including microglia and macrophages, and reduce glioblastoma growth in cell and mouse models. These findings do not show that the same effects occur in people. A University of Calgary account of earlier animal research reported that mice receiving niacin with chemotherapy and radiation lived 150 days, compared with 40 days in the comparison described in that report. Those are mouse-model results, not estimates of patient survival.

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How to interpret the interim result

A 2026 University of Calgary report said that 82% of the 24 participants in the interim analysis were progression-free at six months. It also described the result as “28% higher than previous studies.” The report does not clarify whether that comparison is a relative increase or a difference in percentage points, so it should not be recalculated or treated as a precise effect estimate.

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The trial team had set a continuation threshold: stop if six-month progression-free survival failed to improve by at least 20% over older studies. The reported interim result cleared that threshold, but meeting a trial’s continuation rule is not the same as demonstrating that a treatment works. The comparison with previous studies also does not, by itself, show what would have happened to the same patients without niacin.

The 82% figure concerns progression-free survival, not overall survival. It does not establish that niacin helps patients live longer, and an interim result in 24 people is too preliminary to establish niacin as an effective or standard glioblastoma treatment. The report stated that the study aimed to enroll 48 participants and that final analysis was expected by the end of 2026 or early 2027; that was a planned timeline, not a guaranteed date.

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Why the trial does not make retail niacin equivalent

The study uses controlled-release niacin in a medically supervised treatment setting. An over-the-counter niacin product is not established as interchangeable with the trial formulation or regimen. The findings do not identify a retail product, dose, or supplement routine that patients can safely use alongside cancer treatment.

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Niacin’s status as a vitamin does not make high-dose use harmless. The University of Calgary report says the trial’s doses and treatment are medically controlled and monitored. Trial principal investigator Dr. Gloria Roldan Urgoiti, MD, cautioned: “You cannot assume that, because it is something that is available over the counter, you can just combine it with the standard treatment safely.”

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People with glioblastoma should discuss any vitamin or supplement with their oncology team before using it. Niacin should not replace surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, or other care recommended by that team.

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What general supplement guidance does—and does not—say

The National Cancer Institute says there is not enough proof that vitamin or mineral supplements prevent cancer. That is broad guidance about cancer prevention; it is not a direct assessment of niacin as a glioblastoma treatment. It neither confirms nor rules out the possibility being studied in this trial.

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