Doctors find low-cost drug dose to reduce chemo side-effects

Doctors from the premier cancer care hub, Tata Memorial Centre in Parel, have once again innovated to work out a smaller and low-cost dosage of a well-known drug that controls chemotherapy-related vomiting and nausea. Their research work - reducing the standard dosage prescribed globally to a fourth - has been published in the peer-reviewed medical journal, The Lancet Oncology. The team studied the drug, olanzapine, which is a widely used anti-psychotic drug prescribed for patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Olanzapine is also prescribed to cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy as it can reduce the side-effects, such as vomiting and nausea.