Drug interactions
Aspirin tends to reduce the antiinflammatory effect of several drugs prescribed for arthritis, according to investigators who studied the apparent drug interaction in rats.
C. G. Van Arman, PhD, senior research fellow at the Merck Institute for Therapeutic Research, reported that aspirin acted as an antagonist to the anti-inflammatory effects of indomethacin, flufenamic acid, phenylbutazone and similar drugs. He gave his report at the fall meeting of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics in Palo Alto, Calif.
He pointed out that while the effect has not been observed in man, nevertheless one should be "extremely wary" of drug interactions in clinical practice. "Combinations of the various anti-inflammatory agents with aspirin may either be ineffective or harmful," he added. "It is even conceivable that the beneficial effects of the drugs might cancel but the toxicities add."
The investigator produced arthritis in rats by injecting an adjuvant—a suspension
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