New form of aspirin could eliminate stomach irritation and other side effects
Washington, Aug. 22 - A potentially safer, more potent form of aspirin - made from the same polymers that are the stuff of plastics - was described here today at the 220th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society.
Others have used polymers as carrier molecules to deliver drugs and housed drugs within polymer capsules. But this is believed to be the first time that a polymer has been used as a drug itself, says Kathryn Uhrich, Ph.D., the principal investigator of the study and a professor of chemistry at Rutgers University in Piscataway, N.J.
"It sounds so simple, but nobody's ever done this before," says Uhrich, who foresees making other beneficial drugs into polymers. "We think there is great potential for these polymers."
Called PolyAspirin™, the drug consists of about 100 individual molecules of aspirin strung together in a chain to form an elastic compound, or polymer. A promising treatment for diseases ranging from inflammatory bowel disease to tuberculosis, it could eliminate stomach irritation and other side effects of using aspirin, reports the researcher. She expects human clinical trials to begin within two years.
New uses for aspirin, or acetylsalicylic acid, continue to be discovered. Once taken mainly to manage pain caused by headaches and arthritis, the versatile drug now helps prevent heart attacks and strokes. Some researchers believe it might be able to help prevent cancer and Alzheimer's disease as well.
But aspirin has a downside. In the stomach, it breaks down into its active ingredient, salicylic acid. As the stomach lining is sensitive to this acid, prolonged use of the drug can result in bleeding and stomach ulcers.
The structure of PolyAspirin™ allows it to dodge the stomach's acidic environment and break down into salicylic acid later - primarily when it hits th
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Contact: Charmayne Marsh
y_marsh@acs.org
202-872-4445
American Chemical Society
22-Aug-2000