Could a Lung Cancer Drug Work Better With Cok… – WebMD

Study finds cola improves efficiency of Tarceva for patients that are likewise taking a heartburn medicine

WebMD News from HealthDay

By EJ Mundell

HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, Feb. 12, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Patients along with the top kind of lung cancer could be able to look to Coca-Cola Classic to solve a common medicinal challenge, Brand-new study suggests.

As the Dutch scientists explain it, the efficiency of the powerful lung cancer drug Tarceva (erlotinib) depends when it come to the pH degree of the stomach. However several people when it come to Tarceva need to likewise take a proton pump inhibitor heartburn medication — such as Nexium or Prilosec — which enhances stomach pH to much more alkaline levels.

That better pH can easily reduced the absorption price for Tarceva, cutting its efficiency in fighting non-small-cell lung cancer, study suggests.

One prior study involving healthy and balanced volunteers discovered the usage of Prilosec lessened blood concentrations of Tarceva by 61 percent.

What to do? In the Brand-new study, researchers led by Dr. Roelof van Leeuwen, of Erasmus MC Cancer Institute in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, wondered if the solution could be to reverse stomach pH “by taking Tarceva along with the acidic beverage cola,” namely Coca-Cola Classic.

The study focused when it come to 28 people along with non-small-cell lung cancer that were taking Nexium plus Tarceva. For 2 weeks, half of the patients took concerning 8 ounces of water along with their meds for the initial seven days, then the very same quantity of Coca-Cola Classic for the next seven days. The complying with 2 weeks, the patients took the drinks in the reverse order.

The result? “Cola consumption led to a medically relevant and statistically substantial increase” in the absorption of Tarceva for patients taking Nexium, van Leeuwen’s group reported online Feb. 8 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

The study authors believe that asking patients to consume much less compared to a can easily of cola could be an “easy-to-implement” method to optimize the efficiency of Tarceva as soon as a heartburn medication need to likewise be taken by the patient.

One lung cancer expert agreed that some patients do requirement a method about the problem.

“Unfortunately, several patients requiring Tarceva likewise requirement proton pump inhibitors to minimize stomach acidity caused by gastritis” — an aggravation of the stomach lining — or by the drugs they are taking, such as particular painkillers, said Dr. Alan Mensch of Northwell Health’s Plainview Hospital, in Plainview, N.Y.