Once-a-Week Asthma Drug Shows Promise

A new asthma drug that may need be taken only once a week is one of a new class of drugs that shows promise for treating respiratory disorders.

A clinical trial has shown that a single dose of the new drug, EPI-2010, substantially reduced the need of the 14 asthma patients in the study to use their bronchodilator medicine to control asthma symptoms, an effect that lasted for an entire week. The drug is the first of a new class of drugs called respirable antisense oligonucleotides (RASONS). RASONS offer the potential for a series of important medicines, says the developer, EpiGenesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Cranbury, NJ, USA). The company, the first to test RASONS in clinical trials, plans to sublicense EPI-2010 to a multinational pharmaceutical company for sales and distribution.

"An effective, once-per-week asthma drug would be a medical breakthrough,” said Prof. Peter Barnes, head of thoracic medicine at the National Heart & Lung Institute (London, UK). "We await completion of EPI-2010's remaining clinical trial with great anticipation.”




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