May also keep former smokers from developing lung cancer
Jump to full article: Health News Digest, 2009-08-03
Author: University of Colorado Denver
Intro: Iloprost, a drug used regularly to treat high blood pressure in the lungs, has been found to significantly improve the damage in former smokers, according to results of a multicenter Phase II clinical trial led by the University of Colorado Cancer Center. The results of the study were presented Aug. 2 at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer meeting in San Francisco.
The researchers examined lung biopsies of 152 people who had smoked at least 20 pack-years—equivalent to one pack a day for 20 years—before and after six months of treatment with either oral iloprost or placebo.
None of the 82 current smokers who entered the trial saw significant improvement in the signs of lung disease, but former smokers treated with iloprost showed significant improvement.
“These results are exciting because they show we can actually keep former smokers from developing lung cancer with a drug that has been used routinely for other problems,” said the study’s principal investigator, Dr. Robert Keith, associate professor of pulmonary medicine at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine and associate chief of staff for research at the Denver Veterans Administration Medical Center.
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