Background: Surgery is the primary treatment for locally advanced thyroid cancer (TC). For some locally advanced TC, R0/R1 resection could not be achieved at initial diagnosis and neoadjuvant treatment would be an option. However, there is still little evidence regarding neoadjuvant treatment in locally advanced TC. Methods: This single-arm, phase 2 study investigated the efficacy and safety of Anlotinib (12mg orally daily, for two weeks on/on week off) for 2-6 cycles in patients with locally advanced TC in the neoadjuvant setting. Operable patients received surgery after neoadjuvant treatment. The primary endpoint was objective response rate (ORR). Results: A total of 13 patients were included and received an average of 3.5 cycles (range: 3-6 cycles) of Anlotinib treatment. 12 cases were papillary thyroid cancer, and 1 was follicular thyroid cancer. The ORR of Anlotinib was 76.9% with 10 partial response (PR), 2 stable disease (SD), and 1 progressive disease (PD). 8 PR and 1 SD patients received surgery after neoadjuvant treatment, of whom 8 had R0/1 resections and 1 had R2 resection. 2 PR patients refused to have surgery and the rest 2 patients were not operable. The R0/1 resection rate for intent to treat population was 61.5% and for per-protocol population was 72.7%. The maximum reduction in sum of tumor diameter was an average of 34.8% (range: 30.9%-45.5%) for PR patients. Most adverse events were grade 1 or 2. Common adverse events of all grade were hypertension (76.9%), hypertriglyceridemia (69.2%), proteinuria (53.8%), TSH increase (53.8%), cholesterol elevation (53.8%) and hand-foot syndrome (38.5%). The majority of adverse events discontinued after the neoadjuvant treatment stopped. Conclusions: Anlotinib demonstrated antitumor activity in the neoadjuvant treatment in locally advanced TC and the majority of patients achieved R0/1 resection. Adverse events were consistent with the known Anlotinib adverse event profile. These results suggest that Anlotinib neoadjuvant treatment represents a new option for locally advanced TC. Clinical trial information: NCT04309136