Press Release – December 2017Aspirin celebrates 120 years of innovation – gain access to the lectures

World experts from the medical and scientific community met in Berlin to celebrate and explore the current understanding of aspirin’s multifaceted role in modern Medicine. It is remarkable, 120 years on from when Aspirin was first synthesised by Dr Felix Hoffmann, that the interest in its clinical utilization continues to grow. This multi-disciplinary conference, set within the walls of the preserved ruins of Rudolf Virchow’s lecture hall at Charité, within Berlin’s Museum of Medical History, witnessed lively discussion and excitement regarding novel mechanistic insights and current indications for aspirin’s use. Delegates from the Chinese Society of Cardiology joined the cardiology session via a live streaming link further enhancing the international perspective.

Aspirin does not confine itself to one disease area. The latest guidelines and research for both the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) were discussed in one session and aspirin’s role in the prevention of cancer in another. There is evidence that aspirin not only helps prevent the development of some cancers e.g. colorectal cancer (CRC) but may also help delay the metastatic spread of cancer, and perhaps might work in synergy with new immune therapies used in cancer treatment.

The meeting included a basic science session and this was interesting in helping to increase the understanding of aspirin’s mechanisms of action and in defining the best dosing schedules for different situations and individuals. The bleeding risk with aspirin and strategies to minimise this were explored in the concluding sessions.

Professor Carlo Patrono, Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the International Aspirin Foundation, stated: “This has been a fantastic conference … spanning from the basic science of how aspirin works and novel findings that may open up new avenues, up to the clinical implications and the many clinical trials that have been carried out in the last 40 years and looking at the future of aspirin as a novel strategy for global prevention, not just of CVD but also of some forms of cancer and other diseases.”