The National Cancer Institute is currently developing curcumin as a drug for the treatment of cancer. The rationale behind this effort is based on the combination of potential chemopreventive mechanisms, the validated biological activity in preclinical studies and its proven safety to humans.

A Phase I trial assessing the safety and pharmacokinetics, studies on patients with colon polyps (in view of the inhibitory effect of curcumin on the formation of arachidonic acid metabolites) and a Phase II chemoprevention trial on patients with oral leukoplakia are included in these plans. The progress of these studies is indicated in Figure 1.