EU project identifies new asthma treatments

A new approach to developing asthma drugs has been identified by a European Union-funded research project: target the condition’s genetic root causes, not just allergies prompting symptoms.

A new approach to developing asthma drugs has been identified by a European Union-funded research project: target the condition’s genetic root causes, not just allergies prompting symptoms.

According to Professor Miriam Moffatt of Imperial College London, the €11m Gabriel project, means ‘we now know that allergies may develop as a result of defects of the lining of the airways in asthma,’ so ‘concentrating therapies only on allergy will not effectively treat the whole disease.’

The project has identified genes that alert the immune system about damage to airways and hasten their healing, which should ‘help direct research into new treatments’, the European Commission said.