Novartis Asthma Pill Shows Promise in Small Trial

By Reuters Staff

LONDON (Reuters) - The first new asthma pill in decades has produced promising results in a small clinical trial, potentially paving the way for another treatment option for patients by the end of the decade.

Fevipiprant, a prostaglandin D2 receptor 2 antagonist, was tested in 61 patients with persistent eosinophilic asthma in a single-center, randomised, double-blind, parallel-group, placebo-controlled trial.

Fevipiprant, which is being developed by Novartis, reduced sputum eosinophil percentage, a biological marker of asthma, nearly five-fold in the 12-week trial. No serious adverse events were reported.

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The trial showed that Fevipiprant "reduces eosinophilic airway inflammation and is well tolerated in patients with persistent moderate-to-severe asthma and raised sputum eosinophil counts despite inhaled corticosteroid treatment," the investigators reported August 6 in the journal Lancet Respiratory Medicine.

Larger and longer studies are now needed to prove that the twice-daily pill can also reduce severe asthma exacerbations. Novartis believes the medicine could be filed for regulatory approval in around 2019.

Pills for asthma used to be standard treatment 40 or 50 years ago, but those older products were often associated with worrying side effects. They have since been replaced by inhalers that deliver small amounts of drugs directly into the lungs.

The Novartis pill works in a very precise way to block the action of eosinophils.

The latest research comes at a time of considerable innovation in asthma care, with the recent launch of new injectable drugs for severe asthma that also target eosinophils.

At the same time, many drugmakers are developing improved asthma inhalers, including "smart" devices with sensors that monitor use.

SOURCE: https://bit.ly/2b8g40C

Lancet Respir Med 2016.

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