Researchers Predict Increased Use of Celebrex in High-Risk Patients

Italian researchers report that they expect to see Celebrex, a COX-2 inhibitor widely used to relieve pain of arthritis, increasingly used in the prevention of colon cancer in high-risk patients.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration two years ago approved the use of Celebrex (celecoxib) to treat familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP), a disorder in which large numbers of polyps grow in the colon and the rectum.

If these polyps are not surgically removed, a very high percentage of people with FAP will develop colorectal cancer. Celebrex was the first drug approved to reduce the number of adenomatous colorectal polyps in patients with FAP.

"In the future, we might expect these drugs to be used in the prevention of colon cancer in patients at increased risk, such as those with a positive family history," the researchers reported in the journal Digestive Diseases.

Other sources: Digestive Diseases