An efficacious and competitively priced option for asthma and COPD

Abstract

Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are among the most common conditions managed in primary care – healthcare professionals currently treat 5.4 million patients for asthma. In 2005, there were 842,100 cases of COPD in England, equivalent to one person in every 59 of the population. Yet despite a growing armamentarium and evidence-based guidelines, management often remains suboptimal. Better management could potentially avoid 75% of hospital admissions and up to 90% of deaths from asthma. Even mild COPD may impair daily activities and undermine health-related quality of life. Choosing the most appropriate inhaler for each patient can help optimise outcomes. Moreover, before increasing the dose or introducing another treatment, healthcare professionals need to exclude, as far as possible, factors that could compromise the treatment response including non-adherence, trigger factors and poor inhaler technique. There is no evidence suggesting the order in which asthma patients should use devices other than metered dose inhalers. Therefore, clinicians should consider cost and patient preference when deciding which inhaler to prescribe. This feature examines the place of the Easyhaler range in COPD and asthma management. This product focus has been supported by an educational grant from Orion Pharma.