Approaching Current and New Drug Therapies for Pediatric Asthma

Abstract

As new therapies for pediatric asthma are approved by the Food and Drug Administration, clinicians should be aware of their benefits and limitations. Accompanying these therapies are potential obstacles, including the delivery of inhaled therapies and age-specific issues regarding implementation and adherence. New insights are being added to well-established controller medications, including inhaled corticosteroids and long-acting β-agonists, while new medications previously approved in adults, including tiotropium and biologics, are now being evaluated for use in children. These drugs can be useful additive therapies to treat patients who are currently not responding to guidelines-based therapy.

Keywords: Adherence; Biologics; Drug delivery; Drug development; Inhaled corticosteroids; Long-acting β-agonists; Omalizumab; Tiotropium.