Singulair takes edge off exercise-induced asthma
A study in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that montelukast sodium (Singulair, Merck & C o., West Point, PA), when combined with rescue medications, may help control mild asthma and exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB).
Montelukast sodium is the newest anti-asthma medication in the leukotriene receptor antagonist class. The multi-center study showed that montelukast sodium helped provide improvement in EIB, without a decrease in effectiveness over a 12-week study period.
In the double-blind study, 110 patients with mild asthma (ages 15 to 45 years) received either 10 mg of montelukast sodium or placebo once daily at bedtime for 12 weeks. This was followed by a two-week period in which all patients received placebo only. Exercise challenges were performed at baseline; 20 to 24 hours after dosing at weeks four, eight, and 12; and at the end of the placebo-only period.
After 12 weeks of therapy, participants receiving montelukast sodium experienced a 47% greater inhibition of EIB than those in the placebo group.
The results were measured by comparing the post-exercise fall in lung function (using FEV1) and the time for lung function to return to the pre-exercise state. Montelukast sodium did not, however, prevent clinically significant EIB in 52% of patients studied.
Significantly fewer patients (14.3%) in the montelkast sodium group required rescue therapy with a beta-agonist after the exercise challenge than those in the placebo group (36%).
"People with mild asthma may only experience troubling symptoms such as shortness of breath or labored breathing while they are exercising," says James Kemp, MD, of the Allergy and Asthma Medical Group and Research Center in San Diego and a clinical investigator for montelukast sodium.
"Although Singulair is not indicated as monotherapy for EIB, the study shows that many patients who consistently took Singulair benefited from its ability to help control asthma,." Kemp adds.
Montelukast sodium was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in February for the prevention and chronic treatment of asthma in adults and children as young as six. The drug is not indicated for EIB, and should not be used by itself as rescue medication.
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