New Asthma Drug Could Benefit Thousands
Researchers have claimed that a new drug could potentially help the large number of people with asthma whose condition is not suppressed by the current generation of drugs. The results of trials involving the drug in question, pitrakinra, were highlighted in The Lancet medical journal, in which it was shown to lessen breathlessness by as much as three-and-a-half times over placebo treatments.
Asthma is a condition suffered by over five million people in the UK, of which 1.4 million are children. Each year, 70,000 people with asthma are admitted to hospital, and 1,400 are killed by it.
According to experts, approximately 250,000 British asthma sufferers cannot control their condition through the drugs currently available. This places them at risk of plummeting rapidly into a serious attack.
Pitrakinra is presently under development by its manufacturers, Aerovance. According to a representative from the California-based company, the drug would only be provided to patients in whom previous treatments have proved ineffective. "We are looking at this as a treatment for the problem patients who are uncontrolled on steroids", said spokesman Rick Fuller, adding: "It is probably more important to have a new treatment for them than for the mild patients that are well controlled."
Pitrakinra represents the initial product within a new drug class known as interleukin inhibitors - engineered to work differently to the current standard of asthma drugs. Its developers anticipate it will generate less in the way of side effects.
The recent trials were carried out by a team led by Malinda Longphre. Highlighting the virtues of the new drug, she admitted to being "very excited".
Ms Longphre continued: "We are the first to show that inhibiting this part of the immune response affects the clinical outcome in asthma. This could be a new avenue for therapy for moderate to severe asthma. It is the first wholly new treatment approach [in asthma] since leukotrine antagonists hit the market over a decade ago."
Pharmaceutical International will continue to provide unrivalled coverage of this exciting new asthma drug as we get the facts.
Source - Pharmaceutical International's Research and Development Analyst
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