New Asthma Treatments

New asthma treatments go beyond medicine to a whole new way of looking at this chronic condition and its management. Instead of focusing on crisis management of acute asthma attacks, new asthma treatments emphasize managing the condition by controlling environmental conditions and daily medication in order to reduce the risk of attacks. These new treatments include once a day oral medications for children with chronic asthma, daily maintenance inhalers, education about asthma triggers and allergens for those dealing with asthma as well as outreach efforts that involve entire communities.

Xolair

Xolair is a new asthma treatment and is a different type of medication, it is the first to treat the attacks and symptoms of allergic asthma by blocking Immunoglobulin E (IgE) an underlying cause of allergic asthma.

IgE is a substance that naturally occurs in the body in small amounts. When a person who has allergic asthma is exposed to an allergen, their body produces too much IgE. When the IgE antibodies combine with allergens, chemicals called mediators are released. The release of mediators causes the swelling and inflammation of the airways which are the symptoms of allergic asthma.
Xolair works by inhibiting the allergic reaction that often causes constriction of the airways. It works by blocking proteins in the immune system from becoming activated, an underlying cause of allergic asthma symptoms.

Asmanex

Some studies show that Asmanex (mometasone furoate inhalation powder), which is an inhaled corticosteroid, can reduce the need for rescue inhalers. Asmanex helps manage asthma symptoms with just one dose a day (in most cases) for patients with asthma who use a rescue or maintenance inhaler.

New inhalers and combination therapies

One drawback to using steroid inhalers is that, over time, steroids cause side effects. Long term use of steroids has been shown to cause cataracts and osteoporosis in old age. In addition, the use of steroids may stunt the growth of children. Researchers are experimenting with new ways to use drugs to treat asthma. They have found that using smaller doses of steroids eliminates the risk of developing these problems, and may be more effective in treating asthma.

Researchers at Duke University are studying the ways in which lungs constrict during asthma attacks. They believe that asthma sufferers may lack a certain natural chemical in the body that helps the lungs relax and breathe easily. It is possible that natural remedies could be found that would help asthma sufferers relax their lungs and breathe.

Most likely, new therapies for treating asthma will involve combination therapies. Doctors will treat asthma with medications and immunotherapy. This approach has been most effective.

New inhalers are always being developed to combat asthma. One problem with the traditional inhalers is that they contain CFCs (chorofluorocarbon) which are harmful for the environment. Newer, more environmentally friendly dry powder inhalers are being developed, along with better pills that can provide long-term asthma relief.

Awareness

While there's been a great deal of research on asthma and asthma medications over the past twenty years, there have been few new drugs developed for treatment. This is primarily due to the success of the current inhaler drugs. They work extremely well as long as they're used everyday as prescribed. However, because so many asthma sufferers tend to ignore their doctor's instructions, a major component of this new approach to treating asthma is to educate patients and families about what asthma is and how to prevent asthma attacks.

The good news is that according to the Centers for Disease Control, this new approach to treating asthma with education as well as medication does pay off. In a recent study conducted by the National Institute of Environmental Health Services, researchers found that children whose families were taught about asthma and how to manage asthma through environmental control had 37.8 more days per year without any symptoms than those who were treated in the hospital, given a prescription, and sent on their way.