Milan, 4 April 2023 – Asmaa single inhaler it’s a mix of three drugs, a corticosteroid and two bronchodilators, for patients who, despite the combination treatment of two active ingredients, a corticosteroid and a bronchodilator, are unable to keep the disease well under control. And the new therapeutic option making available from Chiesi Italy for patients at risk of frequent respiratory crises, which would be about 10% of the 4.6 million Italian asthmatics.
Reimbursed by the Health Service
This is in particular the ‘triple association in fixed formulation’, available in two dosageswhich combines i three active ingredients in one inhaler, and which has obtained reimbursement from the National Health Service as “maintenance therapy in adult asthmatic patients for whom the association of a Laba (formoterol fumarate, FF) and a medium or high dose of ICS (Inhaled Corticosteroids) does not allows for adequate symptom control. To get the new triple drug combination, asthma patients must “have had at least two exacerbations in the past 12 months or at least one that required hospitalization.”
How does it work
In this triple action, the corticosteroid by inhalation acts on inflammation airways reducing the risk of exacerbations; the two bronchodilators iinstead, they act on bronchial obstructionreducing symptoms.
How well it works
According to data released today, the triple combination has been shown to be effective in reducing the rate of severe exacerbations by 23% in the general population and by 35.5% in permanently obstructed patients, compared with the combination of an inhaled corticosteroid and a bronchodilator at long duration of action by inhalation.
The doctor
“Among the major problems in the management of asthma – explains Claudio Micheletto, Director of Pneumology of the University Hospital of Verona – there is poor adherence to inhalation therapy”, to which 24% of exacerbations and 60% of hospitalizations would be due .
Ease of use
According to Micheletto “many patients tend to underestimate the disease and, when they are feeling well, abandon the basic therapy consisting of the association of inhaled steroids and bronchodilators. The availability of a triple therapy which allows the use of a single inhaler and with two different dosages, represents an important simplification for the patient as well as greater efficacy of the treatment”.