Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 27, 1990 TAG: 9004270365
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
While not a cure, the drug appears in a preliminary study to slow lung damage.
The treatment, announced in the New England Journal of Medicine, is a form of a drug for high blood pressure that is inhaled as a spray. The study must be confirmed by a one with more participants, said Michael R. Knowles, the report's principal author.
The drug, amiloride, may be able to prevent much lung damage if it is found safe and effective for children with the disease, said Knowles, an associate professor at the University of North Carolina Medical School.
In the one-year pilot study of patients with moderately severe cystic fibrosis, lung function declined only about half as much in a group treated with amiloride as in a group receiving a placebo. The drug appears to work by thinning bronchial mucus so that patients can cough it up more easily.
Cystic fibrosis affects about 1 in every 2,500 babies born in the United States. In people with the disorder, cells lining the lungs remove too much sodium and water from bronchial mucus so that the mucus becomes thick and difficult to cough up. It plugs the airways and promotes the growth of bacteria, leading to frequent infections and progressive lung damage.
About half of cystic fibrosis patients die by their mid-20s, according to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.
Researchers said amiloride should not be given to people with cystic fibrosis until additional studies confirm the findings.
by CNB