A TWICE-A-DAY pill that dramatically reduces the severity of asthma attacks has been developed by British scientists.
It is the first new pill for almost 20 years and has been hailed as a real “game changer”, with the potential to revolutionise treatment of the disease.
Within three months, asthma became five times less severe in participants taking the medication.
About 5.4 million Britons have asthma, including 1.1m children.
Professor Chris Brightling, of Leicester University, said: “This new drug could be a game changer for future treatment of asthma.”
The pill, called Fevipiprant, is aimed at severe rather than mild sufferers., and is currently being evaluated in late stage clinical trials for efficacy, according to ClinTrials.gov.
Three people die every day because of asthma attacks and research shows two thirds of asthma deaths are preventable, according to Asthma UK.
Mr Brightling recruited 61 patients, with one group given a 225mg dose of Fevipiprant twice a day for 12 weeks and the other a placebo.
Both were added to the medications the participants were already taking.
The study, published in Lancet Respiratory Medicine, analysed the sputum eosinophil count in the lungs, an inflammation measurement of a white blood cell that rises with the severity of asthma.
People who do not have asthma have a percentage of less than one and those with moderate-to-severe asthma typically have a reading of about five per cent.
The rate in people with moderate-to-severe asthma taking the medication was reduced from an average of 5.4 per cent to 1.1 per cent over 12 weeks. It significantly decreased symptoms, boosted lung function, reduced inflammation and repaired the lining of airways.
Mr Brightling, who led the study at the Glenfield Hospital in Leicester, said: “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.
“Most treatments might improve some of these features of disease, but with Fevipiprant improvements were seen with all of the types of tests.
“We already know that using treatments to target eosinophilic airway inflammation can substantially reduce asthma attacks.
“This new treatment Fevipiprant, could help to stop preventable asthma attacks, reduce hospital admissions and improve day-to-day symptoms- making it a ‘game changer’ for future treatment.”Patient Gaye Stokes, 54 from Grantham, Lincolnshire, who has had severe asthma for 16 years, said: “I knew straight away I had been given the drug.
“I felt like a completely different person. I had more get up and go, I was less wheezy and for the first time in years I felt really, really well.
“For me, it felt like a complete wonder drug and I can’t wait for it to be available because I really think it could make a huge difference to me.”
After the trial she stopped receiving the drug, and her health started to “go downhill again very quickly”, she added.
Prof Brightling said future treatment of human disease will increasingly move from a ‘one size fits all’ approach to one of tailoring the treatment to the individual patient.
Asthma is a long-term condition that affects the airways.
When a person with asthma comes into contact with something that irritates their sensitive airways it causes the body to react in several ways which can include wheezing, coughing and can make breathing more difficult.
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