Asthma agony! Relief by “wonder pill”, says study
You may now be able to ward off asthma by just popping a pill in the mouth, say the researchers of a new study. It seems that there is a “wonder pill” in the offing for asthmatics.
Researchers of a new study have stated that warding off symptoms of asthma may be as “simple as popping a pill”. A research conducted at the University of Leicester has assured that taking a new asthma pill, Fevipiprant (QAW039), which is one of its kinds, for a period of about 20 years, can considerably decrease the severity of the breathing disorder, asthma.
The research included 61 people, and out of these people two groups were made. One group was administered about 225 mg of the medicine, two times a day for a period of 12 weeks. The Other group was assigned a placebo. The placebo and Fevipiprant, were taken by the patients along with their other medications. The sputum eosinophil count was assessed by the researchers during the study, and this reflected on the condition of inflammation in the lungs.
Keeping the sputum eosinophils count under consideration, the study findings revealed that “The rate in people with moderate-to-severe asthma taking the medication was reduced from an average of 5.4 percent to 1.1 percent over 12 weeks”. The drug, Fevipiprant (QAW039), is at the moment in the late stage clinical trials and its effectiveness is under evaluation, say the ClinTrials.gov.
The lead researcher of the research study, Chris Brightling, stated “This new drug could be a game changer for future treatment of asthma”. The pill is said to improve the functioning of the lungs, reduce asthma symptoms, repair airway linings and reduce inflammation. Talking about this Brightling added, “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.”
Asthma symptoms are known to dissipate by using treatments to control inflammation in the eosinophilic airway. This new drug may help people deal more effectively with asthma attacks and reduce hospitalization episodes.
