Cough medication may treat prostate cancer

SAN DIEGO, Dec. 22 (UPI) -- An ingredient used in a common cough suppressant may be useful in treating advanced prostate cancer, U.S. researchers said.

The study, published in the journal Anticancer Research, found that noscapine -- used in cough medication for nearly 50 years -- reduced tumor growth in mice by 60 percent and limited the spread of tumors by 65 percent without harmful side effects.

Dr. Israel Barken of the Prostate Cancer Research and Educational Foundation in San Diego, Moshe Rogosnitzky of MedInsight Research Institute and Dr. Jack Geller of The University of California, San Diego, said noscapine, a naturally-occurring, non-addictive derivative of opium, cannot be patented, which has limited the potential for clinical trials.

Rogosnitzky explained that drug companies are generally unwilling to underwrite expensive clinical trials without being able to recoup their investment. A synthetic derivative of noscapine has been patented but has not yet reached the clinical testing phase.

Since noscapine is approved for use in many countries as a cough suppressant, it is available to doctors to prescribe for other uses as well. This "off-label" use of noscapine is increasingly being used to treat a variety of cancers, Barken said.

As founder and medical director of the Prostate Cancer Research and Educational Foundation in San Diego, Barken is encouraging academic institutions to follow up this successful laboratory research with a human clinical trial.