Posted on 12/20/2008 4:54:58 AM PST by decimon
Don't know.
What’s it taste like?
Cough medicines are usually sweetened so I couldn't say.
It might now be by prescription only. I'll read some cough medicine labels when I get to a drug store.
You are not wrong. They’re not going to dump $$ into research testing if they can’t recoup the cost with patented medicine. So they get to make a synthetic that will undoubtedly have serious side effects.
*I* would like to know which cough medicines have this ingredient. I’ve not heard of it before. Most of the ones I buy have dextromethorphan hydrobromide.
Despite this, there are no ribbon campaigns, races for the cure, movie-stars pleading for research, etc.
Many things with anti-inflammatory properties are useful in treating cancers, since cancer typically coopts the inflammatory response in order to spread. The majority of mass in tumors are inflammation, surrounding cancerous cells.
Metacam is the veterinary name for a prescription anti-inflammatory that is prescribed for dogs and other animals to treat arthritis. It’s also prescribed off label for cancer in dogs. I know this because my chocolate lab, and best buddy, had cancer and I pulled out all the stops to try and help him. Metacam did wonders for him, and helped keep him comfortable, happy and alive for six months beyond the most optimistic prognosis for his advanced cancer. He lived to what is a grand old age for a lab, 14 1/2. I still miss him greatly.
This same drug is also used in humans, but the name escapes me right now.
Good. Good story.
This article says they actually gave the cough syrup to the mice. Vicks Dry Cough actually has this drug in it.
Cough syrup - the new cure for prostate cancer
By PAT HAGAN
Last updated at 17:51 06 March 2007
* Comments (9)
* Add to My Stories
Noscapine in cough syrup could fight prostate cancer
An ingredient used in cough medicine for more than 50 years could be a powerful new treatment for prostate cancer.
Noscapine, a drug derived from opium, has been found to stunt tumour growth and reduce the risk of cancer spreading by up to 65 per cent.
Now other studies are under way to see if it could help fight cancer of the breast, lungs and ovaries, as well as lymphoma - a tumour that affects the lymph nodes under the arm.
Although the drug’s anti-cancer properties were first recognised back in the Sixties, in-depth studies have only taken place in recent years as drug companies have stepped up the search for new and powerful cancer treatments.
The drug is used in over-thecounter products, such as Vicks Dry Cough medicine, because it is highly effective at stopping coughs.
Although opium is the main source of noscapine, it is also found in tiny quantities in tomatoes and cabbage leaves.
The latest findings, by U.S. scientists, were presented at a recent prostate cancer conference in Colorado.
Experts at the Prostate Cancer Research and Educational Foundation in San Diego carried out laboratory tests to verify the drug’s ability to fight cancer.
Mice were fed doses of the drug and their cancers were closely monitored to see what effect the cough-syrup ingredient had.
Study leader Dr Israel Barken, who claims to have been using noscapine on prostate cancer patients for more than a decade, said the results confirmed the drug was effective and safe.
It slowed tumour growth by 60 per cent and reduced the risk of it spreading to other parts of the body by 65 per cent.
‘Incredibly, this was achieved with no toxicity,’ he said. ‘It demonstrates noscapine’s potential as an effective anticancer agent - and a very safe one, too.’
Prostate cancer is the most common type of tumour in men in the UK, accounting for almost one in four male cancers. Each year, nearly 32,000 men are diagnosed with the disease and more than 10,000 die from it.
Many patients undergo surgery to remove the prostate gland, or are given a treatment called brachy-therapy, in which radioactive seeds are injected into the tumour to kill it.
Advanced cases of cancer are treated with drugs to lower the amount of testosterone in the body. In many cases of prostate cancer, the male hormone speeds up tumour growth.
Dr Moche Rogosnitzky, from the MedInsight Research Institute in Delaware, America, which helped fund the research, said: ‘Noscapine has been used for cough suppression for close to half a century. Recent discoveries are pointing to its effectiveness in treating a broad variety of cancers.’
The drug is thought to work by interfering with the way cancer cells divide, stopping tumours from growing rapidly.
Previous studies involving human breast cancer tumours implanted into mice showed the cough-medicine drug was able to shrink the lump by 80 per cent within three weeks.
One of its biggest advantages could be that it seems to work well when taken as a pill, capsule or syrup. Currently, with chemotherapy, most drugs have to be injected.
Dr Kat Arney, from Cancer Research UK, said that although noscapine had still to be tested on cancer in humans, it could be an effective new treatment.
‘Noscapine could prove useful as a prostate cancer therapy. It will be interesting to see if the results from clinical trials in humans show if it is more effective than existing treatments.’
However, further research is required and, in the meantime, the researchers advise against taking cough mixture as a preventive.
Thanks.
I went to a chain drug store and found nothing with noscapine. Behind the pharmacy counter, they never heard of it.
At the following link there is more information. What I would do is write down the ingredients on the cough syrup and then Goggle it to see if it has Noscapine in it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noscapine
Noscapine (also known as Narcotine or Anarcotine) is a benzylisoquinoline alkaloid from plants of the Papaveraceae family, without significant painkilling properties. This agent is primarily used for its antitussive (cough-suppressing) effects. It has also been shown to have anticancer activity
More at link.
Thanks.
I’ve seen that and have done a few searches. The last reference to a USA sold product is for Vicks Dry Cough formula. But that info is out of date as Vicks no longer uses noscapine.
Maybe it’s now a controlled substance or maybe it triggers drug tests (as an opiate) or maybe it’s more expensive than more current drugs. Don’t really know but I wish I could buy some domestically.
I did see an Iranian website offering noscapine but ordering a possibly controlled substance from Iran might raise a flag ot two. ;-)
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