Research suggests that an ingredient used in cough medicines for more than half a century may be an effective treatment for prostate cancer.

Dr Israel Barken, Moshe Rogosnitzky, and Dr Jack Geller tested the cough suppressant noscapine, a non-addictive derivative of opium, on mouse models of prostate cancer. Results showed that noscapine reduced tumor growth by 60% and limited the spread of tumors by 65%, all without causing harmful side effects.

This is not the first time that noscapine has been studied as a treatment for cancer. It has previously been studied as a treatment for breast, ovarian, colon, lung, and brain cancers, and for various lymphomas, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and melanoma. However, because noscapine is a naturally-occurring substance it is non-patentable and thus finding financial backing for clinical trials has proven difficult.

Mosche Rogonsnitzky, of MedInsight Research Institute, a nonprofit organization committed to making doctors aware of commercially unsponsored medications, off-label (secondary) uses for approved medicines, long-lost therapies, and specialized tests that enable treatment to be tailored to the individual, said of the discovery: "Noscapine is effective without the unpleasant side effects associated with other common prostate cancer treatments. Because noscapine has been used as a cough-suppressant for nearly half a century, it already has an extensive safety record. This pre-clinical study shows that the dose used to effectively treat prostate cancer in the animal model was also safe."

News release: New study shows that a cough medicine ingredient could effectively treat prostate cancer MedInsight Research Institute. December 18th 2008.