Helping to Reduce Chemotherapy’s Harsh Side Effects

The side effects of the powerful drugs used for cancer chemotherapy can be devastating. Sometimes they are so severe that patients have to reduce their dosages or even stop taking the medication altogether. A few years ago, Dr. Yung-Chi "Tommy" Cheng and Dr. Edward Chu were trying to find a way to relieve the nausea, vomiting and diarrhea associated with the chemotherapy used to treat colon cancer. Dr. Cheng pored over Chinese literature and found a mixture of herbs used to treat common gastrointestinal ailments that was first used 1700 years ago. In Asia, these herbs are prepared as a tea, making it difficult to control the dose and impractical for wide-scale use. But a capsule form of the herbs called PHY906 was developed and Dr. Chu tested it in combination with chemotherapy in 17 patients with advanced colon cancer. After just the first three patients, the difference was remarkable: it was clear that those taking PHY906 had less nausea, vomiting and diarrhea than those who weren't taking it. It was also tested in patients with liver and pancreatic cancer with similar results and is currently being studied in larger clinical trials for colon and pancreatic cancer. Doctors are finding that patients can tolerate higher doses of chemotherapy when it’s combined with PHY906, making the cancer drugs even more effective. The patients who have volunteered to take part in clinical trials for this novel medication have made a valuable contribution to the arsenal of treatments used to fight cancer.