A new type of therapy against asthma attacks has been discovered for the first time in 50 years, scientists have announced.
The drug benralizumab, given by injection, calms parts of the immune system that can become overstimulated during asthma attacks and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
It is already used in the most severe cases, but recently completed research has shown that it could be used for around two million attacks in the UK each year.
The drug is a breakthrough that could revolutionize the treatment of these diseases, say researchers from King's College London.
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The findings are based on the knowledge that not all asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease attacks are the same.
In different patients, there is an exaggerated reaction of different parts of the immune system.
"Now we see that there are different types of inflammation, so we can act smarter and determine the right therapy for the patient at the right time," says Professor Mona Bafadel from King's College London.
The drug benralizumab affects a type of white blood cell called eosinophils, which can cause inflammation and damage to the lungs.
Eosinophils are among the causes of about half of asthma attacks and a third of inflammation in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
During these attacks, patients have difficulty breathing, there is wheezing in the lungs, coughing and tightness in the chest, and if they cannot be controlled by inhalation, doctors prescribe steroid therapy.
158 patients participated in the research by scientists from London, whose condition was monitored for three months after the inflammation.
The results were published in the scientific magazine Lancet and reveal that this therapy fails in 45 cases, while steroid therapy is unsuccessful in as many as 74 percent of cases.
It was also noted that people who received the innovative therapy were less likely to end up in the hospital, have to receive another round of therapy, or die as a result of the attack.
As approximately two million attacks of this type occur annually in Great Britain, "which is not a small number", therapy would help a huge number of people, according to Professor Bafadel.
"This is a turning point, because we haven't changed therapy for 50 years - it will introduce a revolution in treating people when they are really bad," he adds.
The patients who participated in the survey said that their symptoms are milder and that their lives have improved since taking the new medicine.
Alison Spooner, a 55-year-old from Oxfordshire, is one of the patients who volunteered to take part in the trials.
She has had asthma since childhood, but over the past years her condition worsened and she had three major attacks during that period.
"The symptoms seemed to be getting worse, the severe shortness of breath was terrifying, especially when you're panting and not inhaling anything," Alison recounts.
She felt a "dramatic difference" after receiving the injection, although she still uses an inhaler, but "only because the doctors told her so".
"Unfortunately, there is no medicine that will completely cure us of asthma, but this is the closest thing.
"Actually, this is a small miracle," believes Alison.
"Great Hope"
Benralizumab is not yet ready for widespread use.
Research on a larger number of patients will be needed, which will begin in 2025 and last two years, so that scientists can be sure that it brings improvement.
Those who have received this therapy so far should continue to take it.
The researchers will also deal with the relationship between the effectiveness and the price of this drug, because monoclonal antibody therapies like this one are very expensive.
But the work so far on the drug inspires great hope, because previously therapy for COPD was "stuck in the 20th century", even though the disease is one of the main causes of death worldwide, says Dr. Sanjay Ramakrishnan from the University of Oxford.
Long-term use of steroids is associated with side effects such as weight gain, diabetes and weak bones.
Geoffrey Pointing, 77, from Oxfordshire, who was also part of the research, said: "I didn't have any side effects like when I used steroid tablets.
"Whenever I took steroids I didn't sleep all night, but on the first day of the trial of the new drug I slept and could function without problems."
It is estimated that four asthmatics and 85 people with COPD die every day in the UK.
That's why the research results are "great news", says Samantha Walker from the UK-based charity Asthma+Pluća.
"But it's also terrifying that this is the first therapy for patients with asthma and COPD in the past 50 years," he adds.
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