SCIENCE / MEDICINE : Colon Cancer Treatment Advances

New research confirms that an innovative treatment combining chemotherapy with an anti-parasite drug reduces deaths among victims of advanced colon cancer, according to a report released last week. The combined drug treatment cut by one-third the death rate among patients in a nationwide study of 929 people whose colon cancers had spread to their lymph nodes, the new study found.

The drugs also reduced relapse rates among those patients by 41%, said Dr. Charles Moertel of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., who led the study.

The research, which seems to verify an earlier smaller study, was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Last October, the National Cancer Institute reported a combination of the drug fluorouracil (FU-5) and one called levamisole appeared to reduce death and recurrence rates among 262 people with advanced colon cancer. Levamisole has been used for two decades to treat intestinal parasites in animals and humans but has been sold commercially only to veterinarians, Moertel said.