Information on Loughborough

Helping severe asthma sufferers breathe more easily

Posted on 09/03/2009
University of Leicester

A group of clinicians led by Professor Ian Pavord, at Leicesters Glenfield Hospital have discovered that a new antibody therapy cuts the number of severe asthma attacks in patients with severe asthma by half.

The new antibody therapy, Mepolizumab, was injected monthly to a group of 29 patients (out of the 61 involved) during a 50 week trial of the drug in Leicester. These patients suffered 50 per cent less asthma attacks than others in the trial on a placebo.

Professor Ian Pavord, Consultant Physician in Respiratory Medicine at Glenfield Hospital and Honorary Professor of Medicine at the University of Leicester said "This is an exciting new finding that will significantly improve the lives of severe asthma sufferers.

"Our trial identified that the patients most likely to benefit were those who suffer with an inflamed airway. Mepolizumab helps reduce the number of severe asthma attacks, the most serious manifestation of asthma. Many of these patients are probably being prescribed prednisolone (a treatment that causes significant side effects)and Mepolizumab might be a good alternative treatment giving better results with less side affects.

"However, more research is needed before the treatment becomes widely available. At the moment hospital clinics are not capable of identifying those patients who would benefit most from using this drug. Therefore its important that our first priority is to make sure that local asthma clinics have the capabilities to effectively diagnose those patients who suffer with severe asthma. The drug is likely to be expensive, so its important that we identify those who will benefit the most from it.