Cancer patients - with their weakened immune systems - are particularly vulnerable when the cold and flu season hits.
To help, the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) is sponsoring a landmark trial to see whether a unique Canadian cold remedy - COLD-FX - can help.
The trial will examine whether using the #1 pharmacist recommended cold and flu fighting product in Canada - ginseng extract COLD-FX - reduces infections in chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients; enabling them to remain healthier to fight their disease. Cancer patients have weakened immune systems to begin with, usually as a result of chemotherapy or radiation.
The trial will be conducted by American cancer and infectious diseases experts at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina. Wake Forest currently oversees approximately 150 cancer trials and is regarded as one of America's leading cancer research facilities.
The double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, involving 336 patients, was originally planned to include up to 19 U. S research sites. However, in approving the study, the NCI accelerated the process - targeting completion over a single cold and flu season. To assist in recruitment, it also opened up its cancer trials support unit network of more than 1,500 cancer research sites across the U.S.
The NCI says on its website that the trial is important because both the cancer and its treatment, "…can impair immune system functioning and markedly increase risk of infection, the most common complication…" of chronic lymphocytic leukemia. "Two randomized, controlled trials have shown that an extract of North American Ginseng, called CVT-E002 (COLD-FX), can significantly reduce the risk of ARI [acute respiratory infection] in older adults," the website says.