Around half a million people with asthma could benefit from a revolutionary treatment, which has the potential to be one of the biggest breakthroughs in asthma treatment of the last 20 years. In people with severe asthma, the treatment has been shown to dramatically reduce complications caused by common cold viral infections - the risk most commonly associated with asthma hospitalisations.

Building on work funded by Asthma UK, this trial conducted by Synairgen demonstrated how this new drug, taken with an inhaler, prevented asthma symptoms worsening during the critical first week of a viral infection and reduced the overall number of exacerbations. Patients with difficult to treat asthma, also known as severe asthma, benefitted significantly from the treatment. This was demonstrated by a reduction in the worsening of symptoms following viral infection, along with a decrease in the level to which lung function deteriorated and a reduction in the use of reliever inhalers.