Telithromycin: Potential Treatment for Acute Asthma

Filed in archive Allergy: Research and Development , Asthma on April 14, 2006

Telithromycin, a drug sold under the brand name Ketek, is an antibiotic used to treat mild to moderate respiratory infections. Data from a clinical trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine, however, indicate that the drug could also alleviate symptoms of severe asthma attacks.

The authors were hopeful this study could lead to a new treatment for asthma.

Asthmatics were enrolled in the trial within 24 hours of a severe attack, after their usual medicine failed to work effectively and they contacted their local hospital or GP.

Some patients were given a dummy pill for ten days while others were given the drug. Researchers found those on the drug improved about twice as much as those on the dummy and recovery time was also cut by three days.