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American Morning

New Medicine May Help Victims of the Common Cold; Bush Has Pre- cancerous Lesions Removed

Aired December 18, 2001 - 09:38   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: There are two medical stories making headlines this morning. A possible treatment for the common cold, and some preventative medicine for President Bush. CNN Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has details on both stories. Good morning, Sanjay.

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

ZAHN: Let's -- let's start with this cold story. We all heard it this morning, and we were rejoicing, then we figured, wait, it's a little too early, you can't even get this stuff yet.

GUPTA: Right, Paula.

ZAHN: Where are we in the process?

GUPTA: Not the illusive cure, but perhaps a treatment on the way. pleconaril, maybe -- may be becoming a household name. It still has to go through FDA approval, but it is a new drug that essentially should reduce both the severity and the length of cold symptoms.

That's something we haven't had, ever, really, to treat the cold, and it would actually make the overall severity of the cold less by actually kicking in after day one, and possibly reducing symptoms by an entire day from the average of seven days to about six days. This is a drug that they have been working on for quite some time now, Paula. They've talked about the FDA back in July, about getting approval. That process is still probably a few months away, but maybe some help on the way.

ZAHN: Sanjay, I don't whether you can see that video we just played, but it's miserable to look at, because there is nothing worse than the common cold. We say this little boy sneezing after -- no, look at that. Now, is there a belief that a medication will help children, and are there side effects to it?

GUPTA: You know, they haven't -- they haven't actually tested this in children or college age students, two of the larger groups that get colds, certainly, every year. They do believe that this drug will work with those groups as well. Importantly, Paula, this drug goes actually treats, or actually goes after the virus itself. In this case, rhino (ph) virus. The name is not that important, but it's important to distinguish it from the fact that a lot of the other over-the-counter remedies treat the symptoms. This drug is something that will actually treat the cause and should work in all age groups.

ZAHN: Bottom line, though, what is the soonest we'll see this hit the store selves?

GUPTA: Few months, probably early Spring, maybe Summer. That's usually what the FDA takes to approve something like this. Paula, let me just say as well, that when it comes to a drug like this that actually treats people that with a -- from a nonlethal sort of virus, something that you will recover from, a healthy person will recover from, the FDA sometimes takes a little longer. They want to make sure this is a very safe drug, especially when used for that purpose.

ZAHN: Let's move on to the president's health. The White House confirming yesterday that the president had four lesions, two of them pre-cancerous, removed from his face last week. What's the significance of that?

GUPTA: Well, it's usually pretty insignificant, actually, clinically, Paula. Two types of lesions here. This is the second time, incidentally, that the president has had lesions taken off of himself. Here, you can see a red mark on his right cheek, and then a red mark on his left cheek, there, again. Those are the two places that a lesion called ektenic karitosis (ph) was taken off.

Again, Paula, the name is not that important, but that is a pre- cancerous lesion. Here a subhoreac karitosis (ph). That's a lesion that was taken off his forehead and his temple. That is usually just a lesion of old age. That's something that people -- I'm sorry, I'll rephrase that, of aging, a barnacle of age. And as people get older, sometimes will form these skin tags can actually turn into actual lesions. They're usually removed mainly for cosmetic reasons.

The ektenic karitosis (ph), the first lesion we were talking about, that's considered pre-cancerous. That's sort of one of those funny words, Paula, pre-cancerous, has the word cancer in it, so it's certainly a little scary. Pre-cancerous basically means it has the potential to transform itself into cancer. It is not cancer at this time. As long as you can get the lesions off, it should never be a problem for him.

ZAHN: In fact, as I understand in the president's case, they didn't even do any biopsies. They just didn't think it was necessary.

GUPTA: That's correct. You can usually identify these lesions just by their appearance, and, again, if you get them off, they really won't be a problem at all.

ZAHN: But I think the good news in all of this is, once again, this raises awareness for all of us. The kinds of things we should be looking for on our own bodies and our own faces, and when people see something slightly irregular, they should go see their dermatologists, right?

GUPTA: Absolutely. Always check with your doctor. If any of the lesions on your skin are changing in any way, go see your doctor sooner. Obviously, try and stay out of the sun. That's usually the cause of a lot of the more difficult to treat skin blemishes and cancers.

ZAHN: All right, Doctor. Thanks for making that house call this morning.

GUPTA: Thank you.

ZAHN: We appreciate it.

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