Affiliation:
1. School of Pharmacy, Seacom Skills University Kendradangal, Bolpur, Birbhum, West Bengal, India
Abstract
Current asthma drug therapy is highly effective, having evolved from naturally occurring substances via logical pharmaceutical developments. Pharmacology has played an important role in the development of asthma drugs, and several key experimental findings have been published in this journal. Understanding the pharmacology of effective drug therapies has also taught us a lot about the mechanisms underlying asthma. 2-Adrenoceptor agonists, which evolved from catecholamines in the adrenal medulla, are the most effective bronchodilators, whereas corticosteroids, which evolved from catecholamines in the adrenal cortex, are by far the most effective controllers of the underlying inflammatory process in the airways. A combination inhaler containing a long-acting 2-agonist and a corticosteroid - an improved form of adrenal gland extract - is the current "gold standard" of asthma therapy.
Theophylline, a dietary methyl xanthine, and chromoglycate, a plant-derived substance, have both been widely utilized in the treatment of asthma, but their molecular mechanisms are still unknown. Pharmacology has been crucial in enhancing natural products to create effective, long-lasting, and secure asthma medications, but it has faced difficulties in developing new classes of anti-asthma treatments. Leukotriene antagonists, the only brand-new type of anti-asthma therapy established in the previous 30 years, are less efficient than currently available medications. Corticosteroids are less successful than new, more focused medicines that target particular cytokines, but more focused medications run the risk of having side effects that may not be tolerable. Pharmacology, not molecular genetics, appears to be the most likely direction for future advancements in asthma treatment.