Monthly Newsletter from the Arizona Asthma Coalition |
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AstraZeneca asthma drug more effective during attack than steroids, study finds
Reuters
AstraZeneca's (AZN.L), opens new tab Fasenra, an injectable treatment for severe asthma, is more effective during attacks than the oral steroid that has been the standard of care for 50 years, cutting the need for further treatment by 30%, according to a study published on Wednesday. The antibody drug known chemically as benralizumab was approved by U.S. and EU regulators in 2017 as a treatment for a severe form of the breathing disorder called eosinophilic asthma that targets a type of white blood cell associated with lung inflammation.
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Scientists Develop Whole New Form of Effective Asthma Treatment
U.S. News and World Report
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. |
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U.S. FDA finds widely used asthma drug impacts the brain CNBC/Reuters
U.S. government researchers have found that a widely prescribed asthma drug originally sold by Merck may be linked to serious mental health problems for some patients, according to a scientific presentation reviewed by Reuters. The researchers found that the drug, sold under the brand name Singulair and generically as montelukast, attaches to multiple brain receptors critical to psychiatric functioning. |
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New study links childhood asthma with worse memory
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Kids with early onset asthma may struggle with many aspects of memory, according to a recent study that adds to growing literature on the topic. With previous evidence pointing to asthma and memory difficulties from studies on mice, the new report, conducted by researchers at the University of California, Davis, is one of the first linking childhood asthma to memory function. |
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How Pulmonary Rehab Can Help Improve Asthma Symptoms
TIME
Nearly 8% of Americans have asthma. Given that there’s no cure for the condition, it’s important that if you have it, you find ways to manage your breathing symptoms and limit your flare-ups in order to maintain as high a quality of life as possible. Treatments for asthma include reliever inhalers, long-term inhalers, and pills—and in many cases, these are enough to keep the condition in check. But when a person’s asthma is severe or isn’t managed well by typical protocols, they may be a good candidate for pulmonary rehabilitation. |
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Asthma or COPD: How Symptoms Could Mask Signs of Lung Cancer
American Cancer Society
Certain chronic conditions that affect the lungs, such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), can have symptoms that mimic lung cancer. A recent study found that this could delay a timely lung cancer diagnosis. The study was published in the British Journal of Cancer. The study focused on people already living with chronic conditions that have symptoms similar to those of lung cancer. |
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Best practice advice for asthma exacerbation prevention and management in primary care: an international expert consensus Nature Primary care clinicians play a key role in asthma and asthma exacerbation management worldwide because most patients with asthma are treated in primary care settings. The high burden of asthma exacerbations persists and important practice gaps remain, despite continual advances in asthma care. Lack of primary care-specific guidance, uncontrolled asthma, incomplete assessment of exacerbation and asthma control history, and reliance on systemic corticosteroids or short-acting beta2-agonist-only therapy are challenges clinicians face today with asthma care. Evidence supports the use of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) + fast-acting bronchodilator treatments when used as needed in response to symptoms to improve asthma control and reduce rates of exacerbations, and the symptoms that occur leading up to an asthma exacerbation provide a window of opportunity to intervene with ICS. |
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Join the Arizona Asthma Coalition As a nonprofit partnership since 1996, AAC has worked together with concerned stakeholders including public health, environmental quality, managed care, education, individual physicians and nurses, hospitals, foundations, families and other colleagues. Become a member of the Arizona Asthma Coalition or renew your membership and help us continue this important work. Join or renew here |
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