Some cold comfort for asthma sufferers
Severe symptoms due to cold infections are one of the chief reasons why asthma patients end up in hospital.
A trial of the new drug, SNG001, found it significantly reduced asthma symptoms during the critical first week of infection.
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Researchers from the University of Southampton looked at the effect of SNG001 in a population of 134 adult patients with “mild-moderate” to “severe” asthma who caught a cold.
Chief investigator Professor Ratko Djukanovic, from the University of Southampton, said: “This trial, conducted by several UK academic respiratory experts, provides the first evidence of an effective anti-viral drug that can boost the asthmatic patient’s immune system to fight viruses and thus significantly reduce the impact of virus infections on asthma control.”