Purinethol, Mercaptopurine News

POLICE are trying to trace a handbag containing potentially dangerous prescription drugs.

Results from a recent retrospective cohort study presented at the American College of Gastroenterology's annual meeting has shown that people with IBD who take a class of drugs called thiopurines are at an increased risk for non-melanoma skin cancer .

A recent study in the journal The Lancet has shown that people with IBD who take a class of drugs called thiopurines are at an increased risk for lymphoproliferative disorders, including Hodgkin's lymphoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoproliferative disorder .

Gertrude Elion received the 1988 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine together with George Hitchings and Sir James Black for her codiscovery and patent of the drug 6-mercaptopurine, used in the treatment of leukemia.

Of course we weren't going to finish without some drama, that would just be too easy and too straightforward.

Azathioprine and mercaptopurine prevent postoperative recurrence in Crohn's disease, reports this month's American Journal of Gastroenterology.

Researcher Philippe Seksik, MD and colleagues presented a study at Digestive Disease Week 2009 which links thioprines to a reduced risk of advanced colon cancer in patients with ulcerative colitis .