Feasibility Study of Asthma Cream.

Asthma, which affects nearly 1 in every 12 people, is a large problem in the U.S. Asthma results in a cost of $56 billion dollars in various hospital bills and inconveniences. Many treatments of asthma use delivery methods (e.g., inhalers, tablets, capsules) that cannot be used by many patients if they have medical conditions that weaken their ability to inhale or swallow. This study's purpose was to examine the use of topically applied creams as a potential alternative to the use of conventional asthma medications. To test if a cream could work to treat asthma, a cream was developed with a drug normally taken orally that was combined with a cream base that was found most suitable to deliver the drug. The cream was then tested in-situ with mice as the test subject. The cream was applied to the backs of four groups of three mice for 0.5 hours, 1.5 hours, 5 hours, and 7 hours. Blood samples were taken after the respective times, and the quantity of the drug was analyzed in a mass spectrometer. The results showed that a cream delivered enough of an asthma drug to match the bioavailability of an average adult taking montelukast sodium. With this new delivery method, a cream can be used to treat asthma, which can also relieve the discomfort of asthma patients who are unable to use inhaled drugs and even possibly save lives of those unable to use traditional methods of delivery.

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