UPDATE 1-Drug combination reduces colon cancer risk--study

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By Deena Beasley

SAN DIEGO, April 14 (Reuters) - Combining a low dose of a targeted cancer-fighter with an anti-inflammatory drug reduces the risk of recurring colorectal polyps, an early sign of colon cancer, by as much as 95 percent, researchers said on Monday.

A study conducted by the University of California, Irvine, also found that the drug combination was much less toxic than chemotherapy.

"I think we are on track to develop a medical means to prevent colon cancer," in people at high risk of developing the disease, said Dr. Frank Meyskens, director of the university's cancer center. He said earlier efforts to develop a preventive treatment were thwarted by the fact that available therapies caused too much toxicity.

Meyskens lead a study in which 375 patients with at least one previous colorectal polyp, also known as adenomas, were treated with either a combination of one-time cancer drug DFMO (difluoromethylornithine) and sulindac, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), or placebo.

The results, presented at a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in San Diego, were so encouraging that the study was stopped early.

After three years, the overall risk of recurrent adenoma was 12.3 percent in treated patients, compared with 41.1 percent for patients in the placebo group, or a 70 percent risk reduction.

For patients with more than one previous polyp, 0.7 percent of treated patients had a recurrence, compared with 13.2 percent of placebo patients -- a 95 percent reduction.