LONDON, April 20, (KUNA): Scientists are developing a drug that will protect asthma sufferers from life-threatening symptoms caused by the common cold, according to a study here Friday.
The research shows an anti-viral agent known as “SNG001” prevented two out of three asthmatics from getting worse after catching a cold, while those on ‘dummy’ treatment found it more difficult to breathe.
Researchers told the media here they believe the drug could potentially help up to one in five patients with severe asthma who are most at risk of life-threatening complications from their condition.
Experts said the drug could be ‘one of the biggest breakthroughs in the last 20 years’ and could be used more widely to protect other patients with chronic lung disease.
Around 5.4 million Britons have asthma, with one-fifth of them being ‘difficult to treat’, and viral infections which spread to the lungs are blamed for eight out of 10 asthma-related attendances at hospital casualty departments.
The latest research was carried out by scientists from the University of Southampton, southern England. Researchers compared the new drug with placebo or ‘dummy’ treatment in 134 adult asthma patients, with ‘mild-moderate’ through to ‘severe’ asthma, who caught a cold.
Patients with ‘difficult to treat’ asthma — approximately half of the patients in the trial — benefited significantly from the anti-viral agent.
The new agent contains interferon beta that occurs naturally in the body, which is inhaled to stop the virus taking hold in the lungs.
The drug could be used against swine flu and other viruses as a powerful broad spectrum antiviral respiratory drug in lung diseases such as pandemic flu.
Asthma UK, which backed the study, said ‘This has the potential to be one of the biggest breakthroughs in asthma treatments in the past 20 years.
‘We are incredibly excited by the possibilities this research could bring to reduce hospital admissions and deaths as a result of asthma attacks.”