Scientists Develop Whole New Form of Effective Asthma Treatment
By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, Nov. 28, 2024 -- Geoffrey Pointing says its hard to describe the distress of an asthma or COPD flare-up.
“Honestly, when you're having a flare up, it's very difficult to tell anybody how you feel - you can hardly breathe,” Pointing, 77, of Banbury, England, said in a news release.
But an existing injectable drug might make these attacks much less frightening, a new clinical trial has shown.
The already-approved drug for asthma could replace steroid medications as a means of quelling asthma and COPD flare-ups, researchers report.
Benralizabam, a monoclonal antibody, did a better job than steroids at reducing respiratory symptoms like coughing, wheezing, breathlessness and hacking up phlegm, according to trial results published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine.
After three months of treatment, four times fewer people taking benralizumab had suffered an asthma or COPD attack, compared to people taking the steroid prednisolone.
“This could be a game-changer for people with asthma and COPD,” said lead researcher Dr. Mona Bafadhel, chair of respiratory medicine for King’s College London.
“Treatment for asthma and COPD exacerbations have not changed in fifty years despite causing 3.8 million deaths worldwide a year combined,” Bafadhel continued in a news release. “Benralizumab is a safe and effective drug already used to manage severe asthma. We’ve used the drug in a different way -- at the point of an exacerbation -- to show that it’s more effective than steroid tablets, which is the only treatment currently available.”
Pointing, who participated in the trial, called the drug “fantastic.”
“I didn't get any side effects like I used to with the steroid tablets,” he said. “I used to never sleep well the first night of taking steroids, but the first day on the study, I could sleep that first night, and I was able to carry on with my life without problems.”
Benralizumab targets specific white blood cells called eosinophils, which contribute to lung inflammation.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved it in 2017 for the management of severe asthma, but this trial aimed to test its effectiveness in dealing with asthma and COPD attacks.
Eosinophilic exacerbations make up 30% of COPD flare-ups and nearly 50% of asthma attacks, researchers said. During these episodes, amounts of the white blood cells surge in the lungs, causing wheezing, coughing and chest tightness.
For the clinical trial, researchers divided asthma or COPD patients into one of three groups – one receiving benralizumab during a flare-up, another taking prednisolone tablets, and a third receiving both benralizumab and prednisolone.
The benralizumab group not only had fewer symptoms, but it also took longer for them to suffer an event so severe they had to either see a doctor or go to the hospital, researchers found.
People given the injections also had an overall improvement in their quality of life, researchers added.
The injections were administered by health care professionals during the trial, but could potentially be given safely at home or in a doctor’s office, researchers said.
“Our study shows massive promise for asthma and COPD treatment,” lead researcher Dr. Sanjay Ramakrishnan, a clinical senior lecturer at the University of Western Australia, said in a news release. “COPD is the third leading cause of death worldwide but treatment for the condition is stuck in the 20th century. We need to provide these patients with life-saving options before their time runs out.”
The clinical trial was supported by benralizumab’s manufacturer, AstraZeneca.
Sources
Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.
Source: HealthDay
Posted : 2024-11-29 00:00
Read more
- Biden Seeks Coverage for GLP-1 RA Medications by Medicare, Medicaid
- Virtual Yoga Classes Aid Chronic Low Back Pain
- FDA Approves Revuforj (revumenib) for the Treatment of Adult and Pediatric Patients with Relapsed or Refractory Acute Leukemia with a KMT2A Translocation
- Weight Loss Brings Americans Big Health Care Savings
- Phanes Therapeutics’ PT217 Granted Fast Track Designation by the FDA for NEPC
- High Rates of Hep C Seen for Patients Presenting to ED With Opioid Overdose
Disclaimer
Every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided by Drugslib.com is accurate, up-to-date, and complete, but no guarantee is made to that effect. Drug information contained herein may be time sensitive. Drugslib.com information has been compiled for use by healthcare practitioners and consumers in the United States and therefore Drugslib.com does not warrant that uses outside of the United States are appropriate, unless specifically indicated otherwise. Drugslib.com's drug information does not endorse drugs, diagnose patients or recommend therapy. Drugslib.com's drug information is an informational resource designed to assist licensed healthcare practitioners in caring for their patients and/or to serve consumers viewing this service as a supplement to, and not a substitute for, the expertise, skill, knowledge and judgment of healthcare practitioners.
The absence of a warning for a given drug or drug combination in no way should be construed to indicate that the drug or drug combination is safe, effective or appropriate for any given patient. Drugslib.com does not assume any responsibility for any aspect of healthcare administered with the aid of information Drugslib.com provides. The information contained herein is not intended to cover all possible uses, directions, precautions, warnings, drug interactions, allergic reactions, or adverse effects. If you have questions about the drugs you are taking, check with your doctor, nurse or pharmacist.
Popular Keywords
- metformin obat apa
- alahan panjang
- glimepiride obat apa
- takikardia adalah
- erau ernie
- pradiabetes
- besar88
- atrofi adalah
- kutu anjing
- trakeostomi
- mayzent pi
- enbrel auto injector not working
- enbrel interactions
- lenvima life expectancy
- leqvio pi
- what is lenvima
- lenvima pi
- empagliflozin-linagliptin
- encourage foundation for enbrel
- qulipta drug interactions