FDA may relabel aspirin to tout added benefits

January 23, 1997
Web posted at: 8:07 p.m. EST

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Food and Drug Administration is trying to decide whether to change the labels on aspirin sold to medical professionals to reflect its broader role in helping to prevent heart attacks. It would be the first labeling change for aspirin since 1985.

Current labels indicate that heart-attack patients who take a daily, low dose of aspirin can help prevent a second heart attack. The proposed labeling change would be aimed at people who have not yet suffered a heart attack, but who have some blockages in the blood vessels leading to the heart.

A Harvard researcher told the committee Thursday that the failure of patients at risk to take daily doses of aspirin leads to 10,000 premature deaths each year in the United States. However, aspirin also can cause gastrointestinal bleeding and strokes in some patients, especially the elderly.

Related site:

• U.S. Food and Drug Administration

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