An outright cure for asthma could be available in just five years, reports suggest.
Scientists have discovered the cause of the condition and ways of preventing it, The Daily Telegraph reported, describing their findings as “incredibly exciting”.
Should researchers establish that existing drugs used for those with brittle bones can be used safely to treat sufferers’ lungs, new drugs could potentially be created to treat people suffering with chronic bronchitis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Asthma UK, which helped to fund the research, published in the Science Translational Medicine journal, said the calcilytics drugs – used to treat osteoporosis – could, for the first time, offer a means of treating the underlying cause of asthma.
Professor Daniela Riccardi, one of the researchers from Cardiff University School of Biosciences, said: “If we can prove that calcilytics are safe when administered directly to the lung in people, then in five years we could be in a position to treat patients and potentially stop asthma from happening in the first place.”
Dr Samantha Walker, director of research and policy at Asthma UK, said: “This hugely exciting discovery enables us, for the first time, to tackle the underlying causes of asthma symptoms.
“Five per cent of people with asthma don’t respond to current treatments so research breakthroughs could be life changing for hundreds of thousands of people. If this research proves successful we may be just a few years away from a new treatment for asthma, and we urgently need further investment to take it further through clinical trials.”
At Russell Worth, we help sufferers of occupational asthma, developed as a direct result of a person’s work, to claim compensation for their suffering. If you or your loved has suffered as a result of occupational asthma and you’d like to speak to us about your legal options, give us a call on 0800 028 2060 or contact us online here.