Aspirin side effects removed

AN Irish company claims to have created a new form of aspirin that can be taken by patients over prolonged periods without suffering the side effects associated with long-term use.

The development could be good news for the battle against cancer after a study showed long term use of aspirin at relatively high dosages can dramatically reduce the risk of getting, or dying from, numerous cancers.

Currently, the main disadvantage of prescribing aspirin for daily use is that the drug can damage the lining of the gut and stomach, causing ulcers and bleeding.

But Cork-based Solvotrin Therapeutics say they have created a “prodrug” version of the familiar medication, meaning its key ingredients do not begin to work as soon as they are swallowed, with the associated risks to the gut that this entails, but are only activated when they reach a specific target in the body.

Solvotrin chief executive Pat O’Flynn said: “While traditional aspirin can cause gastrointestinal damage, bleeding and ulcers, even at low doses, Solvotrin’s prodrugs do not cause injury to the stomach and intestines, and there is enormous potential for these drugs in the fight against cancer.”

The breakthrough formula for the new version was discovered by Dr John Gilmer and his team of researchers at the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in Trinity College Dublin.

It has not been tried out on humans yet but Solvotrin say they are confident of advancing to the human trial stage soon, particularly because of the industry interest aroused by a recent study linking aspirin to cancer prevention.

The study, conducted by the University of Newcastle, found that people with a genetic predisposition to bowel cancer and other cancers affecting solid organs had a 44% less chance of developing the disease if they were given aspirin daily for at least four years.