ASPIRIN, THE CANCER KILLER

Patients who take daily dose of medication twice as likely to survive

ASPIRIN almost doubles the survival chances of many cancer sufferers, a medical study reveals today. It found that 75 per cent of patients taking a daily dose were still alive five years after being diagnosed with bowel, stomach, pancreatic and throat cancer.

But the survival rate for those not on aspirin was only 42 per cent. Experts say the drug is a ‘magic bullet’ that should now be prescribed as soon as cancer is diagnosed.

The findings back up numerous studies showing aspirin helps keep prostate, breast and lung cancer sufferers alive.

Costing barely 2p a day, it is thought to work by reducing the number of blood clots in which tumours can hide.

Martine Frouws, who led the Dutch research involving 14,000 adults, said: ‘Given that aspirin is a cheap, unbranded drug with relatively few side-effects, this will have a great impact on healthcare systems as well as patients.

‘Medical research is focusing more and more on personalised medicine but many personalised treatments are expensive and only useful in small populations.

‘We believe our research shows the opposite – it demonstrates the considerable benefit of a cheap, well-established and easily obtainable drug in a larger group of patients, while still targeting the treatment to a specific individual.’

Patients in the study were generally taking 80-100mg pills which they had been prescribed to prevent heart attacks.

Forty-three per cent had cancer of the colon, 25 per cent of the rectum and 10 per cent of the oesophagus. The remainder had cancers of the stomach, pancreas and bile duct.

The research by the Leiden University medical centre will be presented at the European Cancer Congress in Vienna today. Professor Nadir Arber of the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical

Center, Israel, and spokesman for the cancer congress, said: ‘Aspirin may serve as the magic bullet because it can target and prevent ischaemic heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease, the three major health catastrophes in the third millennium.’

But Dr Áine McCarthy, of Cancer Research UK, warned of the possible dangers.

She said: ‘Aspirin is a familiar, cheap medicine and this study suggests it could help improve survival for patients with tumours in their digestive system if they take the drug after being diagnosed.

‘Even though aspirin is widely available, it can have serious side-effects like internal bleeding, so cancer patients shouldn’t take it without talking to their doctor first.’

Last week, American r esearchers announced they were recruiting 3,000 women to test whether aspirin stops breast cancer returning. The team from Boston believe it could increase survival chances by up to 50 per cent.

A highly effective painkiller, aspirin works by reducing levels of prostaglandins, which cause discomfort, fever and swelling.

The drug is also prescribed by doctors to prevent heart attacks and stops particles called platelets in the blood clumping together to form clots. A number of larger studies are taking place around the world testing the benefits of aspirin on cancer.

Dr Frouws said until the results came back it would not be safe for patients to take aspirin to treat or prevent the disease. ‘There is not enough knowledge about the possible adverse effects, when aspirin is given to a large amount of patients,’ she said. ‘However, it is a cheap drug and doctors have a wide experience with it.’

Scientific co- chairman of the congress, Professor Peter Naredi, said: ‘We have good evidence that the frequent use of aspirin in the population can prevent some cases of colorectal cancer.

‘Now Dr Frouws and colleagues show that in over 13,000 patients who were diagnosed with a gastrointestinal cancer, aspirin also improved survival compared with those who did not use it. With more and more data to support the beneficial role of aspirin, we must consider whether we should recommend it to a wider public.’

The congress will also be told that a twoin-one ‘wonder drug’ has produced remarkable results in patients with the most deadly type of skin cancer.

Men and women in the late stages of malignant melanoma lived almost eight months longer when given dabrafenib with trametinib compared to a leading drug. It is the best result yet seen in trials.