New clinical trial could help make aspirin safer for patients

New clinical trial could help make aspirin safer for patients. Researchers have launched a major clinical trial to investigate whether eliminating a common stomach bug could help to make taking aspirin safer in some patients. The Helicobacter Eradication Aspirin Trial (HEAT) will look at whether wiping out the bacterium Helicobacter pylori in the gut of patients taking up to 325mg of aspirin a day could reduce their chances of developing a stomach ulcer and dangerous associated bleeding - a complication which kills thousands of people every year. One of the largest of its kind, it's estimated that the study, involving academics from Durham University in collaboration with researchers from the universities of Nottingham, Southampton, Oxford and Birmingham, will recruit in the region of 10,000 aspirin patients found to be infected with H. pylori. Professor Greg Rubin, from Durham University's School of Medicine and Health, said: "Aspirin is a valuable and widely used drug, but it can have serious side-effects. In fact, aspirin is so widely used that it has become the most common cause of ulcer bleeding. "This study will answer an important question about how we can make it a safer drug to take.