asthma

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Researchers at the University of Buffalo have launched a study to see if the steroid treatment ciclesonide could be effective in treating the coronavirus.

The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI) has called off its 2020 Annual Meeting that was schedule to take place in March in Philadelphia.

The AAAAI leadership had been meeting on a daily basis to assess the situation based on developments that were occurring. However, based on increasing numbers of COVID-19, including the first recorded case in Philadelphia, the leadership felt that even precautions weren’t enough to protect attendees of the event.

NICE, the NHS’ drug watchdog in England and Wales, has announced its decision not to recommend Sanofi and Regeneron’s IL-4 inhibitor Dupixent (dupilumab) in the treatment of severe asthma.

The indication specifically relates to patients with type 2 inflammation that does not respond adequately to the combination of high-dose inhaled corticosteroids and another maintenance therapy.

Novartis have said it is not going forward with a new asthma drug, as the treatement failed its Phase 3 trials.

The company announced that the drug, called fevipiprant, did not meet its clinically relevant threshold for reduction in rates of moderate-to-severe exacerbation compared to placebo, for either of the doses, when evaluated over a treatment period of one year.

This follows the results of another failed Phase 3 trial of fevipiprant, a few weeks back, in patients with mild-to-moderate asthma.

Novartis has made it known that its DP2 receptor antagonist fevipiprant failed at Phase 3 to show clinically relevant levels of efficacy in the treatment of inadequately controlled moderate-to-severe asthma.

The firm announced that neither the 150mg or 450mg therapy formulations reached the “clinically relevant threshold” in reducing the moderate-to-severe exacerbation rate over 52 weeks in asthma patients who had received inhaled mid-to-high dose corticosteroids (ICS) and at least one additional controller, compared to placebo.

Following closely on the heels of the news that its deal to merge Pfizer’s consumer health business with its own, GSK has announced that Nucala (mepolizumab) had secured approval from the European Commission for two new delivery methods for patients with severe eosinophilic asthma to self-administer.

The drug, which is the only monthly anti-IL5 biologic approved in Europe, was authorised in a pre-filled pen and a pre-filled safety syringe form, based on Phase 3a data from two real-world studies which indicated that 98% of patients and 100% of caregivers were able to successfully ad

Novartis has announced the first findings on the efficacy of its investigational asthma therapy QVM149 in the treatment of inadequately controlled forms of the condition, showing that the drug met all of its primary and secondary endpoints in the trial.

The therapy contains indacaterol acetate, a long-acting beta agonist (LABA), and mometasone furoate (MF), an inhaled corticosteroid, delivered via the Twisthaler device. After 12 weeks of treatment, it was found that QVM149 “demonstrated statistically significant improvements” in lung function compared to MF alone.

Sanofi has revealed that its interleukin-4 and interleukin-13 (IL-4 and IL-13) inhibitor Dupixent (dupilumab) has been awarded marketing approval by the European Commission as an add-on maintenance treatment for severe asthma with type 2 inflammation characterised by raised blood eosinophils and/or raised fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO).

The decision follows a decision from the EC’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) recommending the drug’s use back in March of this year.

Image Credit: NOMAD

Air pollution is linked to four million cases of childhood asthma each year, according to research published in The Lancet Planetary Health.

The researchers, from George Washington University, estimated that Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) pollution was linked to 13% of all paediatric asthma cases diagnosed around the world each year.

This figure rose to 19% in the UK, as more than a fifth of childhood asthma cases in Britain were linked to NO2.

Happy Friday! With the weekend within reach, check out our run-down of the top ten most popular articles on Pharmafile.com this week, including Keytruda's liver cancer failure, a "game-changing osteoasrthritis treatment, AstraZeneca's retirement of the MedImmune brand, and the promise of the first new asthma pill in two decades.

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