A simple painkiller, ibuprofen, is being tested to see if it can help to prevent the weight loss which can be so exhausting in lung cancer patients.
Ibuprofen is an anti-inflammatory drug, commonly used to reduce swelling, heat and pain caused by physical injury or conditions such as arthritis. It is already known that the drug, used in combination with megestrol acetate (which is used to treat breast cancer), appears to reduce weight loss and improve appetite and quality of life in patients with gastrointestinal (GI) cancer.

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The group which carried out this work, led by Dr Donal McMillan at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, is now organising a three-year study with ibuprofen plus megestrol in 260 patients from Scottish hospitals with non-small cell lung cancer. The group hopes that the drug combination will help lung cancer patients in a similar way to the GI group.

The trial, being sponsored by the Cancer Research Campaign, will examine weight gain over 12 weeks’ treatment with ibuprofen plus megestrol, ibuprofen alone and a dummy drug (placebo).

But how might ibuprofen help? Dr McMillan explained: ‘Usually, the inflammation caused by a tumour is not resolved. The tumour can be thought of as a wound which does not heal. Often it is not the tumour itself that kills the patient, but related health problems. No one knows why these other health problems kick in, but we do know that progressive weight loss is connected with poor prognosis in cancer patients.’