latest research on anti-inflammation drugs may make it possible to replace the formulation which is the most commonly used today, and is probably also the most damaging: aspirin. Few people know that it can be dangerous. The chronic and indiscriminate use of aspirin can lead to stomach bleeding, kidney failure, liver damage and occasionally can be a killer too. In the United States alone these and other side effects kill over 7,000 people every year and ten times as many are admitted to the hospital. In fact, misuse of this pain killer has reached such a level that leading members of European Headache Federation have just called for their governments to commission research to discover the extent of this problem.

Aspirin belongs to a class of compounds called non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (nsaids) that essentially work by subduing a key enzyme involved in triggering inflammation and pain besides stifling a nearly identical enzyme that helps maintain tissues such as stomach lining. Although, this Jekyll and Hyde behaviour of aspirin has been known for sometime, our understanding of the enzymes involved has been rather poor. New research is unraveling the mystery on the near-identical enzymes and steps are underway towards designing