Bayer Presents the `International Aspirin(R) Awards 2000'
Award-Winners From Three Continents Honored in Berlin
BERLIN, Dec. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- The "International Aspirin(R) Senior Award
2000" is being conferred today on the founders of the "Antiplatelet Trialists'
Collaboration," Colin Baigent, Rory Collins, Sir Richard Peto and Peter
Sleight. Scientists at Oxford University, they played a major role in the
meta-analyses of clinical trials confirming the effect of acetylsalicylic acid
(ASA) in the prevention of heart attacks and strokes.
The foursome founded the "Antiplatelet Trialists' Collaboration," an
international group of scientists involved in clinical studies with drugs that
inhibit the clumping together of blood platelets. This aggregation is a vital
part of the natural process for closing wounds. If it occurs inside blood
vessels, however, it may cause a heart attack or stroke. The "Oxford Group"
members are also closely associated with a number of scientific studies
considered to be milestones in ASA research.
The "International Aspirin(R) Awards are presented annually by Bayer AG to
support research into the enormous medical opportunities offered by ASA, which
was originally developed in a Bayer laboratory. Winners are selected by an
International Advisory Board of 11 leading scientists from various fields of
medicine. The Senior Award is worth a total of DM 50,000. In addition to the
Senior Award, a "Young Researchers' Aspirin(R) Award" is also given. The
"Young Researchers' Aspirin(R) Award" is worth a total of DM 20,000.
This year, the "Young Researchers' Aspirin(R) Award 2000" is being awarded
to the Brazilian biochemist Marcela F. Lopes and Anthony Rodgers, a doctor
from New Zealand. In work submitted for the award, Dr. Lopes showed that
acetylsalicylic acid has an inhibitory effect on the organism that causes
Chagas' disease. This often fatal infectious disease is transmitted by
parasites and is common in South America.
Dr. Rodgers was selected for the award on the basis of his study, the
largest of its kind, of the prophylaxis of venous thrombosis following joint
surgery. The study followed more than 17,400 patients who took 160 milligrams
of acetylsalicylic acid daily over a 35-day period. The result was a 29
percent reduction in the number of symptomatic deep vein thromboses and a
reduction in the incidence of pulmonary embolism by as much as 43 percent.
"The International Senior Aspirin(R) Award is an outstanding opportunity
for Bayer to recognize and thank those scientists who have put so much of
their scientific creativity and effort at the service of acetylsalicylic
acid," said Gary S. Balkema, General Manager of the Consumer Care Business
Group at Bayer AG. "In presenting the Young Researchers' Aspirin Award, we
are able to encourage young scientists to continue writing new chapters of the
Aspirin success story in the search for ever-new areas of application."
Originally developed to relieve pain, the active ingredient in Aspirin(R)
has gained prominence in many other medical indications, including the
prevention of heart attacks and strokes, acute therapy of myocardial
infarction, and the therapy of angina pectoris and migraine. Numerous
international studies are currently investigating the action of ASA in the
prevention of some types of cancer. Around 3,500 scientific papers on
Aspirin(R) and the active ingredient acetylsalicylic acid are published every
year.
SOURCE Bayer Corporation
 back to top
Related links:
http://www.bayerus.com
Company News On-Call:
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/092575.html or fax,
800-758-5804, ext. 092575
CONTACT:
Hartmut Alsfasser of Bayer, +49 214 30 57526,
or hartmut.alsfasser.ha@bayer-ag.de
|
