Reflecting on the 125th anniversary of the synthesis of acetylsalicylic acid Professor Peter Elwood, Honorary Professor at the University of Cardiff’s Institute of Primary Care & Public Health, looking ahead to what the future might hold for aspirin. Well known epidemiologist whose landmark research on aspirin in 1974 was of such significance that in 1990 the British Medical Journal declared it one of the top 50 most important research studies published since the 1945.
More recently, Peter Elwood was lead author of a systematic review that showed cancer patients who take aspirin on top of their standard treatment are 20% less likely to die from the disease, and that low-dose aspirin taken regularly also reduces the spread of cancer by a similar margin.