HEALTH : Animal Drug Aids Battle on Cancer
BETHESDA, Md. — A drug used to deworm farm animals combined with a common cancer drug has been found to save the lives of patients who would have died from an advanced type of colon cancer, the National Cancer Institute announced today.
NCI Director Samuel Broder said that a national study involving about 1,300 patients with a stage-3 colon cancer showed increased survival rates for those treated with a drug called levamisole in combination with 5-fluorouracil, a cancer drug now in common use.
The study was directed by Dr. Charles G. Moertel of the Mayo Clinic. At a news conference today, Moertel said that the study showed 49% of stage-3 colon cancer patients were alive five years after therapy with the drug combination compared to only 37% of such patients who received no drugs.
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