According to a new study, a new asthma treatment may be available within the next five years.
About 300 million people suffer from asthma around the world, and approximately one in 12 of them have symptoms that don't respond to any treatments currently available. This vulnerable twelfth of the asthmatic population is responsible for 90 percent of health care costs associated with asthma, according to Medical News Today.
Now, scientists have made a discovery that may finally bring relief to that demographic. A recent study conducted at Cardiff University in the UK showed that asthma symptoms can be stopped and reversed using a class of drugs called calcilytics. These drugs were originally developed to treat osteoporosis and block calcium-sensing receptors. Using lab tissue models and mice, the researchers found that treating asthmatic symptoms using calcilytics eliminated the airway narrowing, twitchiness and inflammation that are the hallmarks of an asthma attack.
"Our paper shows how these triggers release chemicals that activate CaSR in airway tissue and drive asthma symptoms like airway twitchiness, inflammation, and narrowing. Using calcilytics, nebulized directly into the lungs, we show that it is possible to deactivate CaSR and prevent all of these symptoms," principal investigator Daniela Riccardi of the Cardiff University School of Biosciences wrote in the report.
Human tests of calcilytics for asthma are estimated to begin within the next few years. The researchers estimate that the drugs may be available on the market within five years. They also hope to investigate the implications of this discovery on other respiratory diseases like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and chronic bronchitis.
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