Children and young adults in trial to test asthma treatment

Studies show 100,000 young people are routinely prescribed an asthma controller medication called salmeterol, which sometimes appears to offer little benefit to some of them.

Researchers at Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS), together with colleagues at the Universities of Dundee, Aberdeen and Queen Mary University of London, will start trials on children and young adults aged 12-18 with asthma who are not responding well to the standard treatment.

Professor Somnath Mukhopadhyay, Chair of Paediatrics at BSMS, said: "Our research has previously found that around 15 per cent of children and young adults have a particular gene variation that is linked to poor asthma control with this treatment. That’s why we are investigating whether young people’s genetic make-up should be taken into account when deciding whether to give them the routinely-used salmeterol, or an alternative medication called montelukast.”

Professor Mukhopadhyay said not receiving effective treatment for asthma results in more school absences and more emergency visits to the general practitioner or hospitals. Long term, this poor asthma control could have an impact on their education and future job prospects.

The Personalised Medicine for Asthma Control (PACT) study, funded by the children’s charity Action Medical Research, will involve 240 young people aged 12-18 years, who will be recruited from general practices, hospitals and by inviting young people who have indicated that they would like to take part in further asthma research. All new participants will be asked to provide a saliva sample in order to find out their genetic status. Half of them will then be prescribed an asthma add-controller medication according to their gene test results, and the others will be given standard treatment without knowledge of their gene test, as is currently the case.

The participants will report from home online about their quality of life at three, six, nine and 12-months after commencing the study. This new method of collecting research data will avoid the need for hospital visits for children and young people, save costs and will show whether the personalised approach improves life quality. At the end of the study, all participants will be given the results of their gene test and a summary of the study results.

Recruitment to the study opens this January and will require support from local and national general practices, as well as healthcare professionals at the four hospitals involved. Young people aged 12-18 years with asthma, parents of a young person with asthma and healthcare professionals caring for patients with asthma can find out more about the study by calling the Tayside Clinical Trials Unit on 01382 383932.