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Current Drug Delivery

Editor-in-Chief

ISSN (Print): 1567-2018
ISSN (Online): 1875-5704

Do We Really Need to Keep Redesigning β2-agonists for the Management of Asthma?

Author(s): David Van Ly and Brian G.G. Oliver

Volume 12, Issue 1, 2015

Page: [9 - 15] Pages: 7

DOI: 10.2174/1567201811666140606112918

Price: $65

Abstract

There is an enormous drive to refine therapeutic designs and delivery systems, but in this review we ask if this is always the right direction? We choose to play devil's advocate, and argue that refining drug design is not always needed, and what is actually needed is a greater understanding of the biology of the disease. Here we focus on asthma and the β2-agonist group of bronchodilators as an example of how a class of therapeutic has been developed and continues to be developmentally refined. In this review, we define viralinduced exacerbations as the greatest cause of lung attacks and the most crucial time β2-agonist therapy is needed. We explore the reasons why β2-agonist therapy fails in patients with rhinovirus-induced exacerbations, and explain why further “engineered” β2-agonist therapies are likely to continue to fail in this subset of asthmatic population. We justify our perspective by returning to the biology that underlies the cause of disease and highlight the need for “more research” into alternative therapies for this population of asthmatic patients.

Keywords: β2-agonists, desensitization, exacerbations, leukotrienes, prostaglandins, rhinovirus.


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