New Asthma Trials Shows Promise – Let’s Declare War on Asthma Starts Now!
#ATS2013. The World Asthma Foundation (WAF) is covering the American Thoracic Conference #ATS2013 this week in search of solutions for Asthma suffers everywhere. To that end, press reports published today reflect that a new type of asthma drug meant to attack the underlying causes of the respiratory disease slashed episodes by 87 percent in a mid-stage trial, making it a potential game changer for patients with moderate to severe disease, researchers said on Tuesday.
“Overall, these are the most exciting data we’ve seen in asthma in 20 years,” said Dr. Sally Wenzel, lead investigator for the 104-patient study of dupilumab, an injectable treatment being developed by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc and French drugmaker Sanofi in reports to Reuters.
The drug also met all its secondary goals, such as improving symptoms and lung function and reducing the need for standard drugs called beta agonists.
Although far larger trials will be needed to confirm findings from the “proof of concept” study, researchers expressed optimism. They noted that dupilumab has also shown the ability to tame atopic dermatitis, or severe eczema, an allergic condition that is not well controlled by current treatments.
Results of the 12-week asthma study are being presented on Tuesday at the annual scientific meeting of the American Thoracic Society in Philadelphia.
WAF in our effort to Declare War On Asthma will be following this story very closely. Stay tuned for in depth interviews on this topic.
Read full article at http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/21/us-regeneron-sanofi-asthma-idUSBRE94K0I020130521