Novartis claims Onbrez Breezhaler is the only marketed once-daily, long-acting beta-2 agonsit (LABA). “Previous studies have confirmed the efficacy of Onbrez Breezhaler as monotherapy, and these data show the potential for additional lung function benefits when two of the leading classes of treatment for COPD are combined,”… more>>>

When they asked 100 adults hospitalized for asthma or a lung disease like emphysema to show how they used their inhalers at home, most made some type of mistake.

Fortunately, it wasn’t hard for them to learn the correct methods.

Overall, patients misused metered-dose inhalers nearly nine out of 10 times, and Diskus inhalers seven out of 10 times, the researchers report in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

Both types of inhalers deliver medication directly to the airways. Diskus inhalers are used mainly for “controller” medications — the ones patients take regularly to keep asthma or other lung disease symptoms under control. Metered-dose inhalers can be used for controller or “rescue” medications, which patients take during severe episodes of breathlessness and other symptoms.

The two types of inhalers work by different mechanisms, and require different steps to deliver the medication to the lungs.

So for people who use both — which is quite common — the ins-and-outs of correct use can be particularly tricky, said lead researcher Dr. Valerie G. Press of the University of Chicago. With metered-dose inhalers, people have to inhale slowly, for example, while the Diskus device requires a sharp inhalation.

“Respiratory inhalers require multiple coordinated steps,” Press told Reuters Health. “They are not just point-and-shoot.”

Ideally, people who use inhalers should bring them to their doctor appointments and demonstrate how they use the devices at home, Press noted. But in reality, that may not happen

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This suggests that doctors need to be more aware of these risks when treating people with COPD, as the condition is known.

In recent years, the average age of COPD patients beginning long-term oxygen therapy has grown in Sweden from 66 to 73 years, Dr. Magnus P. Ekstrom, respiratory medicine physician and researcher at Blekinge Hospital in Karlskrona, Sweden, said in a news release from the American Thoracic Society. The proportion of women starting the therapy also has increased, said Ekstrom, who worked on the study.

“We wanted to determine if these changes had resulted in a shift in the causes of death for COPD patients with long-term oxygen therapy,” he said of the study, published online Jan. 7 in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

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Using cancer drug Avastin (bevacizumab) in combination with various standard chemotherapy regimens for treatment of advanced non-squamous non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) is safe and effective, according to research in the current issue of The Lancet Oncology.

“The practical implication is the possibility to incorporate Avastin with any chemotherapy regimen in the frontline therapy of metastatic non-squamous lung cancer,” said lead researcher Lucio Crino, MD, director of medical oncology at S. Maria della Misericordia Hospital in Perugia, Italy.

According to an editorial written by Robert Pirker, MD, Avastin “can be safely given when certain precautions are taken.” He added, “It is unknown whether bevacizumab increases survival when added to cisplatin-based chemotherapy in patients with advanced non-squamous non-small-cell lung cancer.”

Pirker noted several issues still to be addressed, including identification of the optimal dose and the role of maintenance therapy with Avastin.

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Roflumilast is a phosphodiesterase-4 inhibitor and represents a new molecular entity — the first new drug class to be approved for patients with COPD in more than 10 years.

“Daxas…has a unique mode of action which targets the underlying inflammation in COPD and is an important addition to the current options available to doctors and patients,” stated Klaus F. Rabe, MD, from the University Medical Centre Leiden, the Netherlands, in a company news release.

As the first oral anti-inflammatory to be approved for COPD, roflumilast may fill a therapeutic gap for patients with frequent exacerbations.

“There are still huge unmet needs when it comes to the medical care of patients with COPD, both in terms of just symptomatic relief — in terms of bronchodilation — but also particularly in terms of exacerbation prevention,” said Andrew F. Shorr, MD, MPH, FCCP, in an interview with Medscape Medical News, noting that exacerbations are associated with substantial morbidity and mortality and lead to an accelerated decline of patient functioning.

This Article is available in it’s entirety at Medscape Today.

By Chris Iliades, MD

Although one in four people may think they have a food allergy, the fact is that food allergies only affect 6 percent of children and 2 percent of adults. “Many people mistake food intolerance for a food allergy,” says Princess Ogbogu, MD, an allergy specialist at Ohio State University Medical Center in Columbus. An example of a common food sensitivity is lactose intolerance, which is caused by an inability to break down the sugar in milk but is not a true food allergy.

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The COPD Foundation has released a new guide on how the changes to the way Medicare pays for home oxygen will impact patients.

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GOLD is short for the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease, a collaboration between the National Institutes of Health and the World Health Organization.

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“The ability of these antibodies to protect mice from highly lethal strains of influenza is encouraging,” said Yoshihiro Kawaoka, a flu expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of Tokyo who worked on the study, said in a statement.

“Such antibodies may be especially useful during outbreaks of newly emerging, highly pathogenic influenza viruses.”

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