New Publications Confirm Clinical And Scientific Benefits Of Symbicort SMART, A New Approach To Manage Asthma
New data published in the International Journal of Clinical Practice show that Symbicort® Maintenance And Reliever Therapy (Symbicort SMART®) delivers greater overall asthma control (based on exacerbation prevention and daily symptoms) compared with a traditional approach with higher fixed maintenance doses of either budesonide/formoterol (Symbicort) or salmeterol/fluticasone (Seretide), plus short-acting reliever medication. These data, from the COMPASS trial, show that asthma patients using Symbicort SMART demonstrated a 39% reduction in severe asthma exacerbations - including a 39% reduction in the requirement for emergency room treatment and / or hospital admissions - compared to patients treated with a traditional approach of fixed dose Seretide and short-acting bronchodilator (SABA) as reliever.
The publication of the COMPASS study is complemented by the recent publication of a scientific review in the European Respiratory Journal, which provides a scientific rationale for using Symbicort as both maintenance and reliever therapy and advocates this as the potential mainstay of future asthma treatment.
Symbicort SMART is a new approach to asthma management, and the first to provide patients with both maintenance and reliever therapy together in one inhaler. With Symbicort SMART, patients receive a daily maintenance treatment in line with normal practice to establish asthma control, and can then take additional inhalations ‘as needed' if symptoms occur, to provide both rapid symptom relief and an immediate increase in anti-inflammatory therapy. Treating the underlying inflammation with every inhalation leads to greater long term asthma control.
"COMPASS was an important study to undertake, since treatment guidelines issued by the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) show that reducing the incidence of exacerbations is by far the most important measure of asthma control," commented Professor Piotr Kuna, lead investigator of COMPASS. "The Symbicort SMART approach provides increased efficacy in controlling exacerbations with greater simplicity and offers a significant improvement over conventional fixed dose ICS/LABA treatment."
COMPASS, a six-month double-blind study conducted in 3,335 patients, is the largest study of its type in asthma. It provides clear clinical evidence that treatment with Symbicort SMART offers a significant improvement in efficacy over fixed, twice-daily combinations of higher-dose inhaled corticosteroid (ICS)/ long-acting bronchodilator (LABA) and reliever, using two inhalers, in the management of moderate and severe persistent asthma, and achieves this with a lower maintenance dose. Overall, patients in the Symbicort SMART groups demonstrated a 25% reduction in mean ICS levels compared with either comparator group when assessed using standard dose equivalents (beclomethasone dipropionate equivalents).
The scientific review in the ERJ highlights that Symbicort SMART is the only ICS/LABA combination available with proven efficacy when used as a single inhaler for both maintenance and reliever therapy. This single inhaler approach is only possible with Symbicort due to its two components which have potentially synergistic effects: budesonide, an ICS to provide an anti-inflammatory effect in the airways within hours, and the LABA, formoterol. Formoterol is a unique bronchodilator that is rapid in effect, unlike salmeterol, and long lasting. Salmeterol does not have the properties that enable it to be used in this way and consequently, Seretide (salmeterol/fluticasone) cannot be used as a single inhaler approach for both maintenance and relief.
The author of the review, Professor Barnes, comments; "Conventional management of asthma involves use of separate medication inhalers for maintenance treatment and relief of asthma exacerbations. This can lead to poor compliance and symptom control. The single inhaler approach to therapy with Symbicort SMART, where maintenance and relief is provided in a single inhaler, is very effective, simple and cost effective. The results of the COMPASS study provide added evidence of the value of the Symbicort SMART treatment approach in clinical practice."
These publications build on the evidence base demonstrating the benefits of Symbicort SMART as a highly effective and simpler approach for asthma management, and support recently revised international treatment guidelines on best practice in the prevention and treatment of asthma issued by GINA, the Global Initiative for Asthma. These guidelines highlight the need for a new management approach and support the use of combination inhalers containing formoterol and budesonide for both maintenance and reliever therapy.
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Source: AstraZeneca