In a recent article on May 2019 at The New England Journal of Medicine, Richard Beasley, D.Sc. et al have claimed efficiency of Budesonide–Formoterol as needed for patients with mild asthma using results of an controlled trial.

The analysis included 668 of 675 patients who underwent randomization. Patients were randomly assigned to one of threetreatment groups: albuterol (100 μg, two inhalations from a pressurized metereddoseinhaler as needed for asthma symptoms) (albuterol group); budesonide (200 μg,one inhalation through a Turbuhaler twice daily) plus as-needed albuterol (budesonidemaintenance group); or budesonide–formoterol (200 μg of budesonide and 6 μg offormoterol, one inhalation through a Turbuhaler as needed) (budesonide–formoterolgroup). Electronic monitoring of inhalers was used to measure medication use. Theprimary outcome was the annualized rate of asthma exacerbations.

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The annualized exacerbation rate in the budesonide–formoterol group was lower than that in the albuterol group (absolute rate, 0.195 vs. 0.400; relative rate, 0.49; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.33 to 0.72; P<0.001) and did not differ significantly from the rate in the budesonide maintenance group (absolute rate, 0.195 in the budesonide– formoterol group vs. 0.175 in the budesonide maintenance group; relative rate, 1.12; 95% CI, 0.70 to 1.79; P = 0.65). The number of severe exacerbations was lower in the budesonide–formoterol group than in both the albuterol group (9 vs. 23; relative risk, 0.40; 95% CI, 0.18 to 0.86) and the budesonide maintenance group (9 vs. 21; relative risk, 0.44; 95% CI, 0.20 to 0.96). The mean (±SD) dose of inhaled budesonide was 107±109 μg per day in the budesonide–formoterol group and 222±113 μg per day in the budesonide maintenance group. The incidence and type of adverse events reported were consistent with those in previous trials and with reports in clinical use.

The study again suggests the superior of budesonide–formoterol in prevent exacerbations among people with mild asthma. Budesonide–formoterol is also used in VCAPS 3 pilot intervention and VCAPS 4. Please click here for full text.