( tion through publication in the NewEng...)Mild Asthma, a Revolutionary Therapy from Italian Research,Health

BEST is a multi-centre study (involving 8 Italian and 14 European centres), which enrolled 500 patients, monitored for 6 months. “Only sufferers who are considered mild persistent asthmatics according to current criteria were selected – explains Professor Alberto Papi, Head of the Clinic for respiratory tract illness at the University of Ferrara and assistant co-ordinator of the study. 60% of those involved in the study were suffering from allergic asthma. These are individuals who are well for most of the time, and for whom it is extremely difficult to guarantee that continuous therapy is followed as set out by current guidelines”.

“For nearly thirty years, the Chiesi Group has continuously developed the combination therapy involving bronchodilators and corticosteroids – comments Dr. Paolo Chiesi, Vice President and Head of the Italian company’s Research and Development division – Over time this initial perception has become an increasingly evident rationale and has gained significance in important clinical trials, such as the BEST study”.

“On the basis of our daily experience, – explains Dr. Germano Bettoncelli, Director of the respiratory area for the Società Italiana di Medicina Generale (Italian Society for General Medicine) – we can confirm that, when symptoms develop, most of the patients affected by this form of asthma tend to use the bronchodilator alone when required, or resort to a “DIY” drug combination, behaviour which to date has been tolerated even if it is “unorthodox”. We are therefore most certainly interested in the fact that data in support of treatment to be used when required is now emerging with the preconstituted combination of the two drugs, as this is a less burdensome and demanding therapeutic strategy&rd
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