Asthma sufferers will trial a new antibotic inhaler with anti-inflammatory properties. Picture: Thinkstock
About 40 per cent of people with severe asthma don’t respond well to standard steroid medications.
Researchers at The Alfred are trialling two personalised treatment techniques in a new study they hope will improve disease management and save lives.
Head of The Alfred’s Physiology Service, Professor Bruce Thompson, said they would test whether current steroid medication would actually work if it was delivered to the right area in the lung causing airway inflammation.
Half of the 60 participants will inhale a currently available steroid treatment through a new inhaler, which shrinks the size of drug particle size so the medication can get further down into the lungs.
“If we unfold the lung it’s as big as a badminton court, it’s a very large piece of skin,” Prof Thompson said.
“If it’s inflamed like a rash, then the lung doesn’t like it. The problem is we’re currently only treating it in one corner and expecting the rest of the lung to respond.
“With current treatment, it’s a bit like having a rash on your arm, but you’re putting the cream on your hand.
“Steroids may work, but they’re just not getting to the right spot and that’s why we’ve been working very hard to get a small particle drug.”
The second arm of the three-year study will see patients with another asthma subtype inhale a commonly used antibiotic with anti-inflammatory properties, to address another reason why the airways become inflamed.
“People still die from asthma. Even if this helps 10 per cent of the population, it will be life changing treatment,” he said.