Drug wars
Lots of new asthma medications being hyped in recent days. Makes sense, since there's a lot of flare ups this time of year. Here's a sampling:
A new medication called Xolair, or omalizumab, was approved in summer 2003 for those people. Omalizumab blocks immunoglobulin E (IgE), a part of your immune system. People with allergic asthma make more IgE in response to allergies, but omalizumab should stop the molecule before it can tell your airways to tighten and swell.
and
Cambridge Antibody Technology will be starting a Phase I clinical trial of CAT-354, a human anti-IL-13 monoclonal antibody, which is a potential treatment for severe asthma, following recent approval from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
Which makes the following story about worries from the maker of Advair:
Analyst Anthony Colletta said he had reduced his forecast for GSK sales in 2010 by $1.1 billion due the challenge posed to Advair by AstraZeneca Plc's asthma drug Symbicort and two new medicines for smoker's lung, Spiriva and Daxas, from Pfizer Inc.
Sometimes the business section is more informative than the health section.
1:30:22 PM 
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