Anvi Shah

Current Treatments and Advancements in Asthma Therapeutics

Started June 28, 2024

Abstract or project description

Asthma is a prevalent respiratory condition affecting over 300 million people worldwide as of 2024, with substantial mortality rates each year. In 2019, there were 455,000 asthma-related deaths. Despite advances in patient care for asthma, there are still many asthma-related deaths occurring each year. Corticosteroids such as Flovent, Asmanex, and Qvar are the main form of medication to treat asthma, but users often experience adverse side effects like heart palpitations, dizziness, and chest pain. This makes it extremely hard for patients who are asked to take this medicine multiple times a day in order to treat their asthma.

Recent advancements in asthma therapeutics have led to the development of new, non-steroid-based treatments with fewer side effects and improved efficiency over the long term, with one linking asthma to gut health. Emerging research introduces the concept of the “gut-lung axis”, which implies that the gut and lung microbiomes influence each other. This means that the gut microbiome influences our immune system and can affect the severity of asthma and its symptoms.

This paper highlights the advancements in asthma therapeutics and provides a comprehensive review of the biology of asthma, deficiencies of current corticosteroid treatments, the mechanism of action of treatments, and new and emerging forms of treatment for asthma, including recent discoveries linking gut health to asthma.