Asthma and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) are two common diseases for which current treatments are less than optimal and for which new drugs are greatly needed. Better understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms of these diseases has identified new targets for therapy and several new drugs are in development. Although most new treatments on the market are improvements in existing classes of drug or new combination of treatments, the clinicaltrials.gov website indicates 50 and 100 new medications for both asthma and COPD and many of these are entirely new.
We report here on some of the new treatments now entering the market and in clinical development. Several new long-acting inhaled bronchodilators and their combinations have been developed, including triple inhalers. Major unmet needs are more effective treatments for severe asthma and disease-modifying (anti-inflammatory) therapies for COPD. More specific treatments, such as antibodies that block eosinophilic or neutrophilic inflammation are in development, together with mediator antagonists and selective kinase inhibitors. However, progress has been very slow suggesting that better understanding of disease or better models and biomarkers and greater investment are needed.
