AstraZeneca welcomes updated GINA guidelines

The Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) Scientific Committee has released an updated version of its Global Strategy for Asthma Management and Prevention treatment guidelines and with them a change in the emphasis as to the recommended treatment approach for this common condition.

Anglo-Swedish drug major AstraZeneca said it welcomed the new GINA guidenlines noting its advice that "combination inhalers containing formoterol and budesonide [like its product Symbicort] may be used for both rescue and maintenance. Both components of budesonide-formoterol given as needed contribute to enhanced protection from severe exacerbations in patients receiving combination therapy for maintenance and provide improvements in asthma control at relatively low doses of treatment."

Despite effective treatments, a recent study showed that 74% of asthma patients in the real world are not well controlled and tend to over-rely on their short-acting bronchodilators, using them on a daily basis in response to a worsening of their asthma symptoms. However, SABAs, which includes salbutamol and terbutaline, do not address the underlying inflammation nor do they contribute to asthma control, thus any approach that includes daily SABA use can be viewed as chasing and not preventing symptoms, the drug major noted.