Digital Commons Network^™

Book Review: The Aspirin Wars: Money, Medicine, And 100 Years Of Rampant Competition, Joseph A. Page

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The recent identification of a possible link between the long-term use of aspirin and a reduced incidence of colon and rectal cancer has directed renewed attention to a familiar household medication whose origins reach back to antiquity.

Competition from other painkillers had begun to cut deeply into the market once dominated by aspirin-based products when studies indicated the possibilities, first that the regular consumption of aspirin might prevent second heart attacks, and later that it might lower the risk of heart attacks in healthy individuals. If these two discoveries, as well as the new finding about colon and rectal cancers, …