SkyePharma’s asthma trial update

An international meeting of asthma experts will be the first to be updated on the data from SkyePharma’s ongoing phase III trial of Flutiform.

The company will present the safety findings to delegates at the American Thoracic Society meeting in Toronto, Canada, which is one of the largest gatherings of pulmonary and critical care experts in the world.

SkyePharma will release a poster containing the updates that, according to its designer Dr Ekkehard Beck, suggest Flutiform is safe when taken long-term.

The company’s chief executive Frank Condella said: “The results from our phase III work continue to be encouraging.”

The company described the results as showing Flutiform is “effective and well tolerated in these study patients”.

Some 87.5 per cent of patients completed the study; eight withdrew due to asthma exacerbation and six patients because of lack of efficacy.

The results also show that 37 per cent of patients experienced mild to moderate side effects, the common of which were nasopharyngitis, pharyngitis and respiratory tract infection.

According to NHS figures, 1,318 deaths in the UK in 2005 were caused by asthma and more than five million people in the UK have the disease, which is more common among women than men.