Trial Information

Urinary Excretion of Acetylamantadine by Cancer Patients

When patients present to their physician with symptoms of cancer at a later stage of
development, survival tends to be poorer. Earlier diagnosis of cancer is expected to
provide improved survival of patients due to earlier treatment intervention. However,
implementation of this screening process is impaired by access and by cost. A simple and
inexpensive test would serve as a screening tool that could be safely repeated at regular
intervals to identify persons for whom more expensive and less accessible diagnostic
investigations might become more appropriately directed. The specificity for an enzyme that
increases markedly in cancer tissue, and the ease of administration of an already licensed
pharmaceutical prescription product, amantadine hydrochloride, would appear to provide
promise of such a desirable screening test.