By ROBERT BARR Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

LONDON — Two men were hospitalized in critical condition Wednesday and four others were in serious condition after suffering adverse reactions in trials of a new drug, and British regulators ordered the tests suspended.

Parexel International, which supervised the trial, identified the drug as TGN1412, a monoclonal antibody developed by TeGenero AG of Wuerzburg, Germany, for treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases and leukemia.

Ganesh Suntharalingam, clinical director of intensive care at Northwick Park Hospital, said two of the men were in critical condition and four were in serious condition but showing signs of improvement.

“The drug, which is untested and therefore unused by doctors, has caused an inflammatory response which affects some organs of the body,” Suntharalingam said.

Capsaicin, the pungent alkaloid in jalapeños and other chile peppers that makes them hot, drives prostate cancer cells to kill themselves off, according to studies published in the March 15 issue of Cancer Research. See:
http://www.psa-rising.com/eatingwell/peppers_hot.htm

Some commentators reacted by warning that hot peppers may cause gastric cancer. Is this true? How strong is the association?

A study conducted at a Texas Veterans Administration hospital in 1988, published in the JAMA, injected about an ounce of jalapeno pepper directly into the stomachs of volunteers. Follow-up observation showed no damage to their stomach linings. But this did not amount to chronic exposure, and anti-cancer versus cancer-causing effects of capsaicin are still controversial. A couple of years ago Mexico National Institute of Public Health found higher rates of gastric cancer in people who ate the equivalent of 9-25 jalapeno peppers a day compared to people who no more than 3 a day. They found no evidence that bacterioa known to be associated with some types of stomach were causing this increased risk.