New data challenges asthma management paradigm

The authors of a study, published in the most recent edition of the Lancet, say that their results challenge the established maintenance therapy plus rapid-acting beta-2 agonist approach used in the management of asthma. Specifically, the research group found that providing patients currently receiving combined budesonide and formoterol therapy, in the form of AstraZeneca's Symbicort, with as-required formoterol treatment brought about increased protection from severe exacerbations when compared with the current therapeutic model.

During the evaluation, which was a 12-month, randomized parallel group study that enrolled 3,394 asthma patients over the age of 12, subjects were provided with Symbicort maintenance therapy plus one of the following as-needed therapies; budesonide/formoterol; formoterol; or terbutaline. The group found that the rate of severe exacerbations was reduced by Symbicort plus formoterol. In addition, the data showed that Symbicort combined with as-required budesonide, an inhaled corticosteroid, was most effective in reducing the risk of severe attacks.

Umesh Laloo, head of the Department of Pulmonology at the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine in KwaZulu, Natal, South Africa, said that the results support a new approach in the treatment of asthma exacerbations, explaining that "administration of anti-inflammatory medication to long-acting beta-2 agonists improves asthma control."