Drug News Abstracts - March 2022


Combination of Inhaled Corticosteroids and Long-Acting Beta Agonists Improves Lung Function in Children Born Prematurely

Combination therapy with an inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) and a long-acting beta agonist (LABA) significantly improved lung spirometry results in children with significant lung function deficits compared with either steroids alone or placebo. These are results of a study conducted in Wales, at the Children’s Hospital for Wales in Cardiff, which tested the combination in school-aged children who had been born prematurely (before 34 weeks’ gestation). These children are known to be at increased risk of decreases in future lung function, especially when they are diagnosed with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in infancy.

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Third Dose Boosts COVID-19 Vaccine Efficacy in Patients with CLL

In an Israeli study, in patients with CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia) who had failed to achieve an antibody response to two doses of an mRNA vaccine against SARS-CoV2, close to a quarter of the patients in the study became seropositive after a third dose.

Patients were enrolled from July 2020 to August 2021; eligible patients had a diagnosis of CLL or small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL), were age 18 or older, had no know history of SARS-CoV2 infection, and had failed to respond to a second dose of a vaccine against SARS-CoV2. The 172 patients were classified into three groups: the treatment-naive (n = 40, 23.3%), those who were on active treatment for CLL/SLL (n = 100, 58.1%), and those not currently receiving treatment who had been treated previously (n = 32, 18.6%). Among those who had received treatment in the past, 24 (75%) were in remission, 18 of them in complete remission, and 8 (25%) were experiencing relapse. Patients on active treatment included 59 who were receiving a Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitor (ibrutinib or acalabrutinib) and 39 receiving venetoclax either with or without an anti-CD20 antibody (rituximab or obinutuzumab).

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Statin Intolerance May Be Overestimated

Findings of a recent meta-analysis indicate that intolerance to statin therapy is much less common than previous data suggested, showing that fewer than 1 in 10 patients are unable to tolerate the cholesterol-lowering treatment. Nonadherence to statin therapy due to the fear of statin intolerance results in suboptimal treatment for dyslipidemia and a high risk of cardiovascular events.

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