Inhalants ward off cystic fibrosis infections-study
04:32 p.m Jan 06, 1999 Eastern

BOSTON, Jan 6 (Reuters) - New tests show that inhaling a drug that fights infection in the lungs can help cystic fibrosis patients stay healthier longer, according to a study in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.

The drug tobramycin, manufactured in aerosol form by PathoGenesis Corp., could be an important advance for the tens of thousands of Americans with cystic fibrosis, an incurable genetic defect that leads to production of thickened mucus that chronically clogs the bronchial tubes and makes the lungs vulnerable to infection. One in 2,000 U.S. babies are born with the condition.

A common lung infection among cystic fibrosis patients is Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which has traditionally been treated with an intravenous antibiotic for 7 to 21 days. Unfortunately, even with the cumbersome therapy, lung capacity generally declines by 2 percent per year until 90 percent of patients die of the lung disease.

But when a drug is inhaled, the concentration going directly to the lungs is 100 times higher. University of Washington School of Medicine researchers, led by Dr. Bonnie Ramsey, decided to see if frequent use of tobramycin would make a difference.

A total of 520 patients at 69 cystic fibrosis centres throughout the United States received the aerosol form of tobramycin or a placebo for 24 weeks. Researchers found those who received the drug had an average 10 percent increase in their lung capacity, while patients who inhaled the placebo suffered an average 2 percent decline in lung capacity.

In addition, ``the patients in the tobramycin group were 26 percent less likely to be hospitalized than those in the placebo group,'' they concluded.

The drug's side effects included a temporary ringing in the ears in 3 percent of the recipients, and a change in the voice that appeared in 13 percent, twice as many as in the placebo group.

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