The Public Citizen interest group has called on the government to halt a trial on whether anti-inflammatory drugs can help protect the elderly from Alzheimer's Disease.

Dr. Sidney Wolfe, in a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Toimmy G. Thompson, contended that the trial is not only useless, but is dangerous and should be stopped.

In the study, more than 2,000 people aged 70 or over are being given one of two anti-inflammatory drugs or a placebo. The drugs are celecoxib and naproxen, sold under the brand names Celebrex and Naprosyn.

Public Citizen said there is no reason to believe either drug will work and notes that, like all drugs of this kind, they can have serious and even deadly side-effects such as stomach bleeding.

HHS spokesman Bill Pierce said the letter has been forwarded to the National Institute on Aging, which is sponsoring the study.

The Institute is guided by the best science available, Pierce said, adding that the letter from Wolfe "is just one person's opinion."

Other sources: Public Citizen, HHS