Aspirin, the wonder drug: It's not just for headaches anymore

The original miracle cure is still an essential element of the formulary. New studies are looking at aspirin's power to fight colon cancer, Alzheimer's disease and diabetes.

By Susan J. Landers, AMNews staff. July 22, 2002.

As newer -- and more expensive -- challengers are unleashed by the pharmaceutical industry, aspirin continues to hold its own and to excite researchers intent upon exploring its curative powers for a variety of humanity's harshest ills.

Wait. What's going on here? Is it possible the little bottle of pills in medicine cabinets for decades can do so much more than chase away headaches?

"I am a great believer in taking aspirin, but not just willy-nilly," said Thomas Bryant, MD, 60, who takes a quarter of a standard 325-mg tablet every day. (The equivalent of a low-dose aspirin at lower cost.)

It's not surprising Dr. Bryant is a booster of aspirin, considering he calls himself "Dr. Aspirin" in honor of his post as president and chair of the Aspirin Foundation of America.

The foundation is funded by about a half dozen manufacturers of the product and was established for public education rather than marketing, according to Dr. Bryant.

Aspirin stood alone for thousands of years as the premier pain reliever. A derivative of the white willow tree's bark and leaves, it was prescribed by Hippocrates in 400 B.C. It has since been joined by other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, such as ibuprofen. But the phrase, "Take two aspirin and call me in the morning," will probably always be a refrain in the medical profession.

Not that aspirin is without its challengers. The manufacturers of the new COX-2 inhibitors celecoxib, co-marketed by Pharmacia Corp. and Pfizer Inc. as Celebrex, and rofecoxib, marketed by Merck as Vioxx, contend the drugs can relieve pain without aspirin's harmful side effect of gastrointestinal complications. [...]