Asthma causes major health and financial burden to the patient. Although therapies of asthma are available at the present time, 45 per cent of asthmatic patients are still unable to control the disease.
These statements came during a recent press conference in Cairo announcing a new device with a triple combination therapy with daily fixed doses to control asthma. The new treatment is now available on the local market.
Dr Mohamed Awad Tag Eddin, professor of chest diseases at Ain Shams University said asthma is the most common chronic respiratory disease worldwide with 3.6 million sufferers which kills 400,000 a year, according to figures of 2015.
Another chest diseases specialist at Ains Shams University, Dr Tarek Safwat said half of asthmatic patients are not adhering to medical advice, which leads to a deterioration in their condition.
The highest risk of asthma comes with associated diseases, such as respiratory and cardiac disease, digestive and neurological diseases, said Dr Hossam Hosni, Professor of Chest Diseases at Cairo University.
“More than one-third of asthmatics do not control the disease when they use inhalers and 28 per cent do not use inhalers correctly,” Hosni said.
Dr Adel Khatab, yet another professor of chest diseases at Ain Shams University said the new treatment based on a fixed daily dose of triple combination therapy to control asthma, reducing disease exacerbation, compared to conventional treatment.
“So the triple treatment has made a 43 per cent improvement especially now that new inhalers are available here.
“Using one device benefits both the patient and the environment because that will mean the patient needs no extra sprays, in turn leading to reduction in emissions and carbon impact.
Dr Gihan Ramadan, head of the scientific department at Novartis, said the new therapies to control asthma are available in Egypt and help asthmatics to coexist with the disease.
“Our goal at Novartis is to reshape healthcare offered to asthmatic patients to help them to control the disease,” she added.
