AstraZeneca's Symbicort reduces exacerbations

Anglo-Swedish drug major AstraZeneca has welcomed new data released at the European Respiratory Society congress, held in Munich, Germany, which shows that use of Symbicort (budesonide/formoterol) as maintenance and reliever therapy for asthma is more effective at reducing exacerbations than fixed doses of either Symbicort or GlaxoSmikthKline's Seretide (salmeterol/fluticasone) plus reliever medication.

According to AstraZeneca, the double-blind, six-month, 3,335-patient COMPASS study shows that, for patients with poor control on moderate doses of inhaled steroid, receiving Symbicort for maintenance and symptom relief, could achieve a 39% reduction in the number of exacerbations (p<0.01) versus fixed-dose Seretide and a 28% reduction vs fixed-dose Symbicort (p<0.01).

The firm noted that patients on 160/4.5mcg budesonide/formoterol used at least 25% less inhaled corticosteroid (beclamethasone equivalent) than patients on fixed-dose budesonide/formoterol 320/9mcg, or fixed-dose salmeterol/fluticasone 25/125mcg. All treatments provided similar improvements in the indicators of day to day asthma control and were well-tolerated.