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| |  ACAAI: Once-Daily Fluticasone Propionate Relieves Asthma Symptoms By Emma Hitt Special to DG News ORLANDO, FL -- November 18, 2001 -- Once-daily inhalation of Flovent (fluticasone propionate) appears to be an effective initial therapy for patients whose asthma is inadequately controlled with bronchodilators alone. Todd A. Mahr, MD, an allergist at the Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center, La Crosse, Wisconsin, United States, and colleagues presented the findings Nov. 16 at the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (ACAAI) 47th annual meeting, held in Orlando, Florida. Flovent, a white powder, is typically administered twice a day through the DISKUS inhaler. To test whether once- instead of twice-daily Flovent could alleviate asthma symptoms, Dr. Mahr and colleagues conducted a 12-week double-blind trial of 408 adolescents and adults with persistent asthma. The patients were randomized to receive either a placebo or 250 µg of Flovent once a day and were also allowed rescue use of albuterol. Asthma patients were enrolled if they had a baseline percent predicted forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) of 60-85 percent and were currently taking short-acting bronchodilators. Efficacy measures included FEV1, morning and evening peak expiratory flow rate (PEF), and amount of rescue albuterol use needed. They found that treatment with once-daily Flovent was more effective than placebo in improving all efficacy measures and also lowered the amount of rescue albuterol use. In addition, once-daily Flovent was shown to have a similar adverse event profile to that of placebo. "These results show that FP 250 µg administered once daily is effective initial therapy in the management of asthma patients inadequately controlled on bronchodilators alone," the authors note. Dr. Mahr noted that Flovent has been compared in some head-to-head studies, with other inhaled steroids, and the majority of studies have shown that Flovent is more potent and efficacious. "The key point is that a number of studies have shown that uncontrolled asthma has harmful effects," Dr. Mahr told Doctor’s Guide. "If we can put someone on a once-a-day dry powder device, this is far better than letting a patient suffer with repeated and increased albuterol use," he said. Flovent is marketed by GlaxoSmithKline, of Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, United States, who also funded the study.
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