Common Asthma Medicine Cuts Need for COVID-19 Hospitalization

A commonly used asthma medication, AstraZeneca’s Pulmicort (budesonide), was found to significantly reduce COVID-19 symptoms if given within seven days of symptoms appearing, UK researchers reported.

A small phase 2 study, which enrolled 146 people and split half into the experimental arm, demonstrated that patients given inhaled budesonide saw a 90 percent reduction in urgent care visits or hospitalization vs. standard care after 28 days of treatment, the researchers said.

Patients receiving budesonide also enjoyed a decrease in fever and persistent symptoms, according to the results posted on the pre-print server medRxiv.

Despite the small sample size, lead researcher Mona Bafadhel of Oxford University said she hopes the results mean “a relatively safe, widely available and well-studied medicine” like an inhaled steroid can help alleviate the burdens of COVID-19 hospital care until vaccination programs reach more people.

The Oxford team noted the idea for the study came from the fact that patients with chronic respiratory disease who often take inhaled steroids “were significantly under-represented among those admitted to hospital with COVID-19.”

The trial marks another COVID-19 collaboration between Oxford and AstraZeneca, whose joint coronavirus vaccine is authorized in the UK, EU and India. An emergency approval in the U.S. is anticipated this spring.

Read the study report here: bit.ly/2Z3wWNc. ― Jason Scott