Drug Significantly Improves Smoking-Caused Lung Damage in Former Smokers; May Also Keep Former Smokers From Developing Lung Cancer.(Clinical report)

Byline: University of Colorado Denver

AURORA, Colo., Aug. 3 (AScribe Newswire) -- Iloprost, a drug used regularly to treat high blood pressure in the lungs, has been found to significantly improve the damage in former smokers, according to results of a multicenter Phase II clinical trial led by the University of Colorado Cancer Center. The results of the study were presented Aug. 2 at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer meeting in San Francisco.

The researchers examined lung biopsies of 152 people who had smoked at least 20 pack-years - equivalent to one pack a day for 20 years - before and after six months of treatment with either oral …