When Beata Halassy learned in summer 2020 that her breast cancer had come back, she made a bold decision. As a virologist at the University of Zagreb in Croatia, she knew that researchers around the world were testing virus-based cancer treatments that could avoid the destructive side effects of conventional treatments like chemotherapy.

Publishing her findings proved to be a significant challenge due to ethical concerns surrounding self-experimentation.

A virologist named Beata Halassy recently made headlines after publishing a report of successfully treating her own breast cancer by self-administe

Virologist Beata Halassy says self-treatment worked and was a positive experience — but researchers warn that it is not something others should try.

Dr. Beata Halassy, a 49-year-old virologist, self-treated her recurrent breast cancer with OVT, a method that leverages viruses to target and shrink tumors.

Halassy self-administered an experimental treatment usually reserved for patients with advanced or resistant cancers.

A scientist successfully treated her own Stage 3 breast cancer by injecting the tumor with viruses she grew in her lab. The unique case is described in a controversial report published in August in the journal Vaccines.