Research lines into asthma

There have been important advances in the last few years in the study of the mechanisms involved in the presentation of the different forms of asthma.

Specifically, research is being carried out in order to determine the so-called asthma phenotypes. A phenotype refers to certain patient groups with asthma that have similar clinical and inflammatory characteristics. Research is currently being carried out to study the phenotypes better and find more personalised treatments for the patients.

Research into new treatments. The advances in the understanding of the disease have led to the development of new drugs with novel mechanisms of action involved in the inflammatory airways of the asthma. It is the case of the so-called biological drugs, which are monoclonal antibodies that act by blocking certain proteins involved in development of asthma. Multicentre studies are currently being conducted on patients in order to test their effectiveness and safety and that will very likely be available in the future to treat this type of patient. Some examples of these are:

• Antibodies against ILE: Quilizumab.
• Antibodies against IL5: Benralizumab, Reslizumab.
• Antibodies against IL13: Lebrikizumab, Tralokinumab.
• Antibodies against IL4: Dupilumab.