Asthma Drug Cuts Children's Need for ED

A study of a new asthma drug shows that it reduces by 36% the need for children with acute asthma attacks to be admitted to the emergency department (ED).

The study involved 482 children with asthma between the ages of one and 18 who presented to the pediatric ED of Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital (Cleveland, OH, USA) over an 11-month period. The patients were randomized to receive either a new drug called levalbuteral (1.25 mg) or the standard drug, racemic albuteral (2.5 mg). The results showed that fewer patients in the new-drug group (36%) required ED admission compared to the patients who took racemic albuteral.

The standard drug, racemic albuteral, is composed of two compounds that are mirror images, or isomers, but only one is actively helping to reduce inflammation in the airways. The other one is inactive and may actually cause the asthma to worsen, pointed out study co-author Carolyn M. Keresmar, M.D., professor of pediatrics, Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, OH, USA), Rainbow and Children's Hospital. The new drug, called Xopenex, has only a single active isomer and the dose given is smaller than that of the standard drug.

"When treating asthma in the emergency room, the goal is to relieve the child's symptoms and send them home,” said Dr. Keresmar. "The results of this study demonstrate that Xopenex can be more effective first-line therapy than racemic albuterol.”




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