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A commonly used painkiller has shown more promise of being effective against cancer.

A recent analysis of past studies documenting the impact of diclofenac on caner revealed that it has anti-tumor properties and can aid existing cancer treatments like chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Diclofenac is commonly used non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, migraine, gout and fever, UPI reports.

"It's still somewhat surprising that there is still so much we don't understand about how many of the standard drugs we use every day, like diclofenac, work," says study author Pan Pantziarka a member of the ReDO project, that is an international effort at examining hidden benefits of standard drugs.

"But the more we learn, the more we can see that these drugs are multi-targeted agents with interesting and useful effects on multiple pathways of interest in oncology."

Researchers said they hoped diclofenac could aid in restricting metastasis that eventually tends to kind people.

Clinical trials are underway to quantify benefits of NSAIDs like diclofenac in cancer treatment. "It may also be that diclofenac may have actions which synergize with the latest generation of checkpoint inhibitors - the combination of the latest drugs in the anticancer armory with some of the oldest is especially exciting," Pantziarka said.

If trials yield satisfactory results, medicine would have scored a huge win over cancer given that diclofenac is generic and cheap.