Lung cancer drugs delivered via inhalation

GLASGOW, Scotland, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- Researchers in Scotland say delivering drugs to lung cancer patients via inhalation using a nebulizer may reduce harmful side effects.

Study leader Dr. Chris Carter, a senior lecturer at the Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, and colleagues Alex Mullen and Dr. Valerie Ferro say the technique could administer treatment far more quickly than existing methods -- intravenous delivery -- and without harmful side effects such as kidney damage.

Lung cancer and mesothelioma caused 4,147 deaths in Scotland in 2009. Deaths of women from the disease increased by 12 percent in the preceding decade, despite a corresponding decrease of 20 percent among men, Carter said.

"Increasing awareness of cancer risks and improvements in treatment do not alter the fact that it remains one of Scotland's biggest killers and lung cancer is its most common form. This means that new, improved treatments are still essential," Carter said in a statement. "By delivering cisplatin, one of the most widely used drugs for lung cancer, in a vaporized form, we would be able to get it to the cancerous cells and avoid the damage to healthy cells which can be hugely debilitating to patients. It would make the treatment far less onerous for them and we hope it would help them to live longer."