Cancer drug slows scleroderma lung failure-study

BOSTON, June 22 (Reuters) A drug used to fight cancer is the first to show promise against the progressive, and potentially fatal, disease scleroderma that affects connective tissue and organs throughout the body, researchers reported.

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed the chemotherapy drug cyclophosphamide could slow or prevent lung failure, a condition that can lead to death for the 50,000 to 100,000 people in the United States, researchers said have the disease.

Of the 158 patients who took the chemotherapy drug cyclophosphamide, 51 per cent found their lung function worsened, compared to 71 per cent who took a placebo. The study was the first to show that any drug works better than a placebo against the rare disease.

The results were not as impressive as doctors had hoped, but cyclophosphamide is still ''the most promising of all the drugs'' tested against the disease, said Donald Tashkin of the University of California yesterday at Los Angeles.

Many doctors already give the drug to scleroderma patients based on less definitive studies showing that it might improve breathing.

Scleroderma causes a hardening of the skin and connective tissues and in many patients stiffens the lungs, making it difficult to breathe. In severe cases, victims die from respiratory failure.

The study did not look at mortality. Generally, 42 per cent of patients who have severe breathing problems from scleroderma die within 10 years.

There is concern that cyclophosphamide, which is available in generic form, might have serious long-term side effects. It can, for example, increase the risk of cancer.

''It's not a drug that's prescribed lightly,'' said Tashkin. It was given at a dose much lower than what is typically given to cancer patients.

In the new study, patients received the drug or placebo for one year and were followed for an additional year. ''The benefits were maintained at two years,'' Tashkin reported.

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