British researchers are working to develop a new asthma treatment that could revolutionize work on respiratory distress over the past 50 years. In France, asthma kills nearly a thousand people per year. The cause: uncontrolled symptoms which can, by their frequency or severity, endanger the lives of patients.
“This could be a game changer for people with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The treatment of asthma exacerbations and COPD has not changed in fifty years, although it causes 3.8 million deaths per year worldwide. “, explains Mona Bafadhel, professor at the King’s Center for Lung Health.
At the origin of the clinical trials whose results were published in the journal The Lancet Respiratory Medicine Thursday, November 28, the scientist confides that this would be the “first new effective treatment for asthma attacks in 50 years.“Indeed, researchers have shown that the use of a drug, benralizumab, already used in particularly serious cases, could improve the lives of patients suffering from asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a chronic disease inflammatory of the bronchi.
An injection more useful than taking tablets
Treatment would consist of injecting a high dose of benralizumab at the time of the attack. Benralizumab, which is a monoclonal antibody, targets specific white blood cells called eosinophils to reduce pneumonia. Such an injection would prove more useful than the current, and only, treatment based on steroid tablets. It also reduces the need for additional treatment by 30%, according to the study published in the journal The Lancet.
French scientific studies have highlighted a link between work asthma and region of residence, according to Public Health France. More professionals in the agricultural and food industries are affected by this chronic disease. Flour would be the microorganism most often responsible for the condition (19%). In nearly 60% of cases, it is exposure to chemicals (quaternary ammoniums and other cleaning products), which is the cause according to the Observatory of Occupational Asthma (ONAP). Regarding territorial disparities, Île-de-France, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion were in 2014 and 2015 the regions most affected by hospitalizations for asthma. On the other hand, Guyana, Corsica, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Pays de Loire were the least affected regions.
