Neuropathy article

This is from an article on healthtalk.com on side effects.

...Now, at this particular meeting [ASCO 2006], there was a trial reported of a new agent, an experimental drug called xaliproden, which has been shown to be very effective in the laboratory in preventing nerve damage resulting from oxaliplatin. And so this drug, which is a pill, take one pill a day, was studied in patients with metastatic colon cancer who were receiving oxaliplatin and other drugs for the treatment of their cancer. And then some patients took a sugar pill, a placebo, and others took the xaliproden. What was found, the major findings, were two things. Number one, the rate of what we call severe neurotoxicity, severe numbness and tingling, difficulties with activities of daily living, were significantly reduced in the patients taking xaliproden compared to the sugar pills. And secondary, there was no ill effect on the beneficial activity of the chemotherapy against the cancer. As many patients responded, their disease was controlled just as long, whether or not they took this pill. And so if these results can be confirmed with additional studies that are now undergoing, it might be possible for patients taking oxaliplatin to receive more of the drug with a greater effect on the cancer and avoid the severe neurotoxicity that can sometimes be seen with this agent.