Stony Brook University medical researcher developing new medication to prevent co...( SEATTLE WASH. October 19 2004--A Sto...)

The study of the new medication--called nitric oxide-donating aspirin, or nitroaspirin--is supported by a $3.2 million grant from the National Cancer Institute. Basil Rigas, M.D., Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Cancer Prevention at Stony Brook's School of Medicine, will report the findings of his trials on laboratory animals at the third annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research today in Seattle. The conference is sponsored by the American Association for Cancer Research.

"Studies in cell culture and animals have shown that this new aspirin is hundreds to thousands of times more potent than traditional aspirin in inhibiting the growth of colon cancer cells and quite effective in preventing the development of colon cancer in laboratory animals," said Dr. Rigas, who will begin human trials of nitroaspirin by the end of this year.

While traditional aspirin has been shown to be effective in clinical trials in preventing certain cancers, it also is associated with significant side effects, including gastrointestinal bleeding, kidney damage, and allergic reactions ranging from mild to fatal. In addition, traditional aspirin is typically effective in preventing cancer in only about 50 per cent of those who take it.

Colon cancer can take many years to develop, but it is frequently not diagnosed in its earliest stages because cancerous lesions in the colon grown slowly and often without symptoms. More than 148,000 new cases of colon cancer are diagnosed in the U.S. each year and more than 56,000 Americans die of the diseases annually, according to the American Canc
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Contact: Warren Froelich
communications@aacr.org
206-219-4772
American Association for Cancer Research
19-Oct-2004