AstraZeneca asthma aerosol improves lung function

Symbicort is a newly approved, twice-daily, inhaled combination therapy containing budesonide, a corticosteroid, and formoterol, a rapid and long-acting beta2-agonist. Symbicort is for asthma patients not adequately controlled on other asthma-controller medications or whose disease severity warrants treatment with two maintenance therapies.

The data indicate that treatment with Symbicort results in significantly greater improvements in lung function, and a lower risk of asthma worsening episodes, compared to budesonide and/or formoterol used alone. In addition, data also showed that Symbicort was generally well-tolerated, with an adverse event profile similar to that of its individual components.

“These data demonstrate that in patients with persistent asthma symptoms, Symbicort provides advantages over its individual components in improving lung function and asthma control, as well as preventing asthma attacks,” said Jonathan Corren, clinical associate professor of medicine and Pediatrics Division of Clinical Immunology and Allergy, University of California.

Symbicort was approved by the FDA in July, 2006. AstraZeneca plans to launch the drug in the US in mid-2007 in a pressurized metered dose inhaler, a device that delivers the medication in an aerosol form.