To prevent the symptoms of mild-persistent asthma, the standard treatment is twice-daily use of an inhaled steroid and sometimes an additional drug such as inhaler albuterol.

[Asthma is considered mild, but persistent, when symptoms occur more than two times a week or cause the patient to awaken during the night more than twice a month.]

Now, according to new research conducted at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and 20 other centers, those with mild-persistent asthma well-controlled with twice-daily use of inhaled steroids may be able to reduce inhaler use to once a day or with the use of a daily pill.

The study involved patients whose asthma was treated with twice-daily inhaled fluticasone propionate (Flovent® Discus), a commonly prescribed synthetic steroid. This drug is designed to suppress inflammation within the airways that can cause narrowing.

Study participants were randomly divided into three groups. One group continued to take Flovent twice a day for 16 weeks. Two other groups took alternative therapies: either a combination of fluticasone propionate and salmeterol in a single inhaler (Advair® Discus) once daily or the oral medication montelukast (Singulair®) that blocks chemicals produced by the body that cause inflammation, also taken once daily.

Salmeterol, used in the combination therapy, is a long-acting bronchodilator, or a drug that relaxes and opens the airways.

According to Stephen P. Peters, M.D., Ph.D., lead author and a professor of pediatrics, internal medicine-pulmonary and associate director of the Center for Human Genomics, results of the abovementioned study suggests that patients whose asthma is well controlled on twice-daily fluticasone can be switched to once-daily flucitasone/salmeterol without increased rates of treatment failure.

Advair® Discus - a flucitasone/salmeterol combo product by GlaxoSmithKline and Singulair® - a product of Merck, are both approved by the FDA.

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