· .. but may be justified In reply to the above letters by Bluming and

Brandman, the authors of the original study recommending fluorouracil and levamisole as adjuvant therapy in metastatic colon cancer [See Inpharma 725: /0, 24 Feb 1990], emphasise that ' ••• the public today demands prompt reletue 0/ well­established major medical ad"ances that may affect their health or li"es'. Their recommendations were made only after these study results confirmed those of a previous, smaller scale trial. The authors query an 83% survival rate in stage C colon cancer and maintain that stratification by the number of involved nodes and the involvement of adjacent organs were included in their multivariate analysis. The inefficacy of therapy of fluorouracil alone renders its inclusion in the study design unethical. The FDA has approved ' ... le"amisok plus /luorouracilas e/fecti"e tuljaNllt tkrtIJIY for coloa c~r • •• ' but further studies are required. Moenel eG. Aeming TR. Macdonald JS. Haller 00. laurie JA. levamisole and f1uoruracil for adjuvant therapy of re5eCled colon carcinoma. New England Journal of Medicine 323: 198. 19 J ul 1990 [Summarised from a letter to the Editor) .. ,.

ISSN 0156-2703/90/0718-0001/0$01.00/0 () Adis Intel7lllt;olllll Ltll

5 INPHARMA® 18 Jill 1990 _