Virtual Lung Models to Personalize COPD Treatment

A team of international experts has launched a project to develop a tool they believe will tailor the treatment of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to the European Respiratory Society. The five-year project, Airway Disease Predicting Outcomes through Patient Specific Computational Modeling (AirPROM), will create computed and physical models of the airway system to help researchers and doctors predict how patients might react to various treatments.

While researchers are continually working to improve the treatment and diagnosis of COPD, the current methods to detect and treat these conditions do not always consider individual differences in the airways. As a result, COPD patients may not receive the most effective treatment. The project, if successful, will address the problems that researchers and doctors have long faced in matching more advanced, targeted treatment approaches to the right patients.

By using unique computed models of the cells in an airway and a physical model of the airways, in conjunction with existing data and tests, the AirPROM research team will be able to test new therapies and tailor treatments to individual patients. These tools will also help scientists predict how the diseases will progress and effect the airways to help monitor the future risk to patients. The team, which comprises scientists from more than 10 European countries, also hopes to assess how air flows through the lungs and why it becomes obstructed in people with asthma and COPD.

The end goal of the project is to use this information to generate an extensive database that links the characteristics of different airways to a particular treatment, helping health professionals provide personalized treatment for people with COPD and asthma.

“This new model will help us to visualize activity in our lungs and see how our illness affects our breathing,” said Breda Flood, a patient with asthma and board member of the European Federation of Allergy and Airways Diseases Patients Association (EFA) in a recent Medical News Today article. “By gaining an insight into how specific treatments will work, patients will have a better understanding of how to manage their condition in the future.”

AirPROM is a part of the Virtual Physiological Human Project, which aims to help support and progress European research in biomedical modeling and simulation of the human body.

Click Here to Access the Full Story from the European Respiratory Society

New Drug Shows Positive Results in Crucial Studies

Relovair, an inhaled drug candidate from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), has shown positive results in two crucial studies evaluating the compound’s effectiveness in treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). That is according to a recent statement released by the London-based pharmaceutical company.

GSK and drug partner Theravance said that both studies, which evaluated the compound in 6,000 patients with moderate to severe COPD, showed that Relovair demonstrated statistically significant improvements in patients compared to a placebo. These results boost the compound’s chances of becoming the successor to GSK’s blockbuster asthma and COPD drug, ADVAIR, whose patents have expired. ADVAIR, which generated about $8.4 billion in 2010 sales, is GSK’s top-selling product.

Both studies were placebo-controlled, double-blind, parallel-group studies and evaluated two separate measures of lung function: improvements in lung function over the first four hours post-dose on day 168 and the end-of-dose trough lung function on day 169. For pre-specified co-primary endpoints analyses, both studies show statistically significant improvements for Relovair compared with the placebo.

The studies also revealed that the most common adverse events across all treatments, including placebo, were nasopharyngitis, upper respiratory tract infection and headache. There were no clinically relevant effects seen in laboratory measures or vital signs.

Developed as a once-per-day inhaled drug, Relovair pairs ADVAIR’s main ingredient, fluticasone, with another compound, vilanterol. It is also being studied as an asthma treatment. From here, the two six-month studies will be combined with a separate 12-month study and included in the company’s regulatory submissions. The full results of all studies will be presented at future scientific meetings.

Click Here to Access the Full Story From GlaxoSmithKline. For additional information on the relevance of this study, Click Here.

Study Shows Novartis Lung Drug Effective in Treating COPD

A phase III study revealed that Novartis AG’s (NVS’s) experimental drug, NVA237, is just as effective in treating lung conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as the standard therapy. These findings reinforce the prospects for the Swiss drug maker’s respiratory franchise.

The study, named GLOW2, found that NVA237 treated patients suffering from moderate to severe COPD better than the placebo and was well tolerated and similarly efficient as the popular drug tiotropium, also known as Spiriva.

“This new study adds to the growing evidence that NVA237 could be an important treatment option for COPD and supports our plans to develop a fixed-dose combination with our Onbrez Breezhaler,” said Trevor Mundel, Novartis’ global head of development, in a statement released by the organization.

Onbrez Breezhaler is also known by its generic name, indacaterol. While initial hopes that Novartis would soon launch several new lung drugs were dampened by regulatory concerns in the U.S., analysts believe that the company could generate an excess of $2.5 billion in sales from the franchise once medicines are approved. Additional Novartis lung medicines include Xolair and Foradil.

The lung care franchise is expected to help the company bridge the loss of sales expected from the expiration of patents for Novartis’ heart drug, Divoan, and cancer medication, Gleevec.

Click Here to Access the Full Story from The Wall Street Journal

Triple COPD Therapy Reduces Risk of Death

Combination triple therapy has been proven to reduce mortality, hospital admissions and exacerbations in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to a recent study published in CHEST.

While physicians commonly use triple therapy with inhaled corticosteroids, beta-agonists and antimuscarinics for COPD, researchers argue that this therapy has been used with limited scientific support. However, the study supports that this treatment is effective in the treatment of the disease.

Researchers studied patients diagnosed with COPD in the NHS Tayside Respiratory Disease Information System between 2001 and 2010. Patients were divided into two groups based on their use of dual or triple therapy and statistical analysis used to calculate hazard rations for all-cause mortality hospital admissions due to respiratory disease, and emergency oral steroid use, to treat exacerbations.

Of the patients, 1,857 were prescribed triple therapy—defined as any combination of inhaled steroid, a long-acting bet-agonist and tiotropium—while 996 were prescribed dual therapy with an inhaled steroid and long-acting beta-agonist. Researchers noted that the patients who received triple therapy had more severe COPD compared to the dual therapy group.

After adjusting for factors such as history of disease, age, sex and smoking status, researchers found that the addition of tiotropium to dual therapy reduced the risk of death from any cause by 35%. Additionally, researchers analyzed a subgroup of patients to determine if triple therapy reduced the risk of death due to respiratory or cardiovascular disease. Findings show that adding the third drug reduced the risk of death from respiratory disease by 30% and cardiovascular disease by 51%.

Risk of COPD exacerbations was also reduced by 29%, while the risk of being admitted to the hospital due to respiratory disease was reduced by 15%. Researchers note that while triple therapy reduces a number of negative repercussions of the disease, there were no clinically relevant changes found in lung function between the two groups.

Click Here to Access the Full Study From CHEST

Long-Term Use of Antibiotic May Reduce COPD Flare-Ups

Long-term use of the common antibiotic azithromycin has been proven to reduce the number of flare-ups in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to a recent study published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

When taken over the course of a year, azithromycin proved to reduce flare-ups in COPD patients by 20%. Typically, a person with moderate to severe COPD experiences one to three flare-ups each year. Minimizing these flare-ups can reduce hospitalization and improve quality of life.

The study, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health, assigned 570 patients with COPD to take 250mg of azithromycin daily for one year and 572 patients to take a placebo. Roughly 80% of patients in the study were also on other medication for COPD. Patients were on average aged 65, and all patients were on oxygen and reported having at least one flare-up in the previous year.

Compared to the placebo, the antibiotic reduced flare-ups by about 20%. After one year, those patients in the placebo group had on average 1.83 flare-ups, while those in the antibiotic group had 1.48. During the study, there were 156 COPD-related hospitalizations for the antibiotic group and 200 for the placebo group. The regimen has its downsides, researchers note. These include hearing loss, which has been found with other antibiotics, and an increase in antibiotic-resistant microbes in some patients.

Researchers note that the regimen is intended only for patients with moderate to severe COPD who require supplemental oxygen or have a history of flare-ups. Further, patients who have heart problems linked with abnormal rhythms are not good candidates for this treatment.

‘‘If you are in the ER a couple times a year or the hospital once a year and have frequent flare-ups more than twice a year, I think the benefits outweigh the risks here,” said researcher Mark Dransfield, M.D., director of the University of Alabama at Birmingham Lung Health Center, in an article published on WebMD.

Click Here to Access the Full Study from The New England Journal of Medicine

Common Blood Pressure Medicine Prevents Lung Damage in Mice

A commonly prescribed blood pressure medicine, losartan (Cozaar), may prevent lung damage caused from exposure to cigarette smoke. That is according to a recent study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Working with mice, researchers at Johns Hopkins have successfully used losartan to prevent almost all of the lung damage caused by two months’ exposure to cigarette smoke. As a result of these findings, efforts are currently underway for a clinical trial of the drug in people with smoking-related chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Until now, there have been no known potential treatments to prevent or repair lung damage resulting from exposure to cigarette smoke. This study is considered a breakthrough discovery because it is the first to show that a drug already in clinical use can prevent most of the serious consequences of smoking in an animal test model, preserving both lung structure and function.

“The results of our study in mice suggest that losartan or similar drugs could serve as an effective treatment for smoking-related lung diseases in humans,” says Enid Neptune, M.D., a pulmonologist and an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and study senior investigator for the animal experiments. “And because these drugs are already approved for use in the United States as safe and effective treatments for hypertension, incorporating them into our treatment regimen for COPD would be quite rapid.”

Click Here to Access the Full Study from the Journal of Clinical Investigation or Click Here for More Information on This Study from HealthCanal.com.

Antibiotic May Help COPD Patients Breathe Easier

Daily doses of the antibiotic azithromycin may help those suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) breathe easier, according to a recent study published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

The study, which was conducted by researchers nationwide, examined the effects of the drug azithromycin in trial participants over the course of a year. During the study, 570 patients were administered 250 milligrams of the common antibiotic, while 572 patients received a placebo pill. All participants suffered from moderate to severe symptoms from COPD and continued to receive additional treatment.

Researchers report that among selected subjects with COPD, azithromycin taken daily for one year, when added to usual treatment, decreased the frequency of exacerbations and improved quality of life.

Compared to the placebo, the antibiotic reduced flare-ups by about 20 percent. At the one-year mark, those in the placebo group had on average 1.83 flare-ups, while those in the antibiotic group had 1.48.

While patients with COPD who experience flare-ups typically receive a course of antibiotics, the long-term treatment using these drugs has not previously been studied.

“There’s been a sense for years that these flares in at least a group of patients with COPD are related to bacterial infections of the lung,” said Dr. Fernando Martinez, director of Pulmonary Diagnostic Services at the University of Michigan Health System and a researcher in this study, during an interview with ABC 7 Los Angeles. “We were able to demonstrate that you could significantly decrease by more than 20 percent the rate of these flare-ups in at-risk people.”

One concern researchers had with this study was that patients on the daily regiment would develop antibiotic resistance. However, while the drugs did increase the amount of antibiotic-resistant microbes in some patients, there were no infections reported. More studies will be needed to look at the long-term effects of the antibiotic treatment.

Click Here to Access the Full Story from the New England Journal of Medicine