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The Telegraph reports: First new asthma pill in 20 years hailed as 'wonder drug' by sufferers
The new drug, called Fevipiprant, works by stopping inflammatory cells getting into the airways while also repairing damage to prevent attacks. It is likely to halve the number of severe attacks, and potentially save hundreds of lives each year. Asthma charities said the new medication showed 'massive promise,' while sufferers trialing the drug said it had changed their lives.
"A unique feature of this study was how it included measurements of symptoms, lung function using breathing tests, sampling of the airway wall, and CT scans of the chest to give a complete picture of how the new drug works," said Professor Christopher Brightling, Clinical Professor in Respiratory Medicine at the University of Leicester. "Most treatments might improve some of these features of disease, but with Fevipiprant improvements were seen with all of the types of tests"
[...] The drug, which is produced by the pharmaceutical company Novaratis[sic. Novartis], is now in phase three trials. Dr Samantha Walker, Director of Research and Policy at Asthma UK, said: "This research shows massive promise and should be greeted with cautious optimism. "More research is needed and we're a long way off seeing a pill for asthma being made available over the pharmacy counter, but it's an exciting development and one which, in the long term, could offer a real alternative to current treatments."
But in an additional quote reported in the Guardian, Brightling seems to indicate more optimism than Walker for a quick turnaround: 'If further trials confirm the drug's potential, it could become available to patients on prescription from a doctor in "more than two but less than three years' time"'. If you want to get an idea of significance of a 'phase three trial', the NHS has an overview of phases one to four.
Additional Coverage:
pharmatimes.com,
The Lancet , and
abstract on PubMed.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 09 2016, @06:04PM
While I realize that plural of anecdote is not data I felt like sharing my experience. Prescriptions are expensive and have side effects. And we're all unique.
Was diagnosed when I was 13, stopped taking any and all related medications around 22 and have since lived without any symptoms. I'm now 36 and quite healthy.
Maybe what else you need to know about my story is it's located in Finland, so a pretty decent level of medical care here, so no reason to doubt the diagnosis. (I was made a histamine challenge test in a hospital and my peak expiratory flow (spirometry) values were too low) I used to inhale a corticosteroid daily for years (a small amount, can't remember) and sometimes had to use the acute airways opening medication as well, particularly if I exerted myself or was in contact with animals. If anybody decides to follow my example, please do not drop the corticosteroid cold turkey but slowly decrease the amount. It might be dangerous. My personal conjecture is that perhaps childhood asthma, like many (food) allergies, can go away.
YMMV, best of luck if you have asthma as well.