True or false? Challenges and recent highlights in the development of aspirin prodrugs.
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Abstracto
Aspirin is a widely used medicine for a variety of indications. It is unique amongst non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in that it causes irreversible acetylation of COX enzymes. Like all NSAIDs however, aspirin causes severe gastrointestinal side-effects, in particular with chronic administration. Prodrugs of aspirin have been proposed as a solution to these side-effects. However, identifying true prodrugs of aspirin, rather than salicylic acid, has proven challenging. This review details the challenges and highlights recent progress in the development of such prodrugs.