Is Inhaler Technique Adequately Assessed and Reported in Clinical Trials of Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Therapy? A Systematic Review and Suggested Best Practice Checklist

Augmenting clinical trials in asthma through digital technology, decentralised designs, and person-centric endpoints: opportunities and challenges

Digital technologies (eg, smart inhalers, wearables, and sensors) allow for remote, objective, granular, and non-invasive data collection, making them attractive for research evaluating interventions in airways diseases with variable trajectories, such as asthma. Such technologies offer the opportunity to move towards decentralised clinical trials that are done partly or fully outside the classic clinical trial setting and are characterised by remote data collection and monitoring. This approach to evaluating clinical, pharmacological, or behavioural interventions could facilitate recruitment of inclusive and generalisable study populations, enhance personalisation and sustainability, reduce research costs, and accelerate the timeline to novel asthma treatments' market access. This Personal View discusses the application of digital technologies and endpoints within trials; the concept of hybrid and decentralised designs; describes a fully decentralised trial in asthma; and explores the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats regarding their implementation from the clinician, patient expert, low-resource, and regulator viewpoints.

Effectiveness of an educational intervention about inhalation technique in healthcare professionals in primary care: a cluster randomized trial

Background: Incorrect inhalation technique (IT) is an important issue for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients and healthcare professionals. Studies in which counseling is carried out with healthcare professionals beforehand so that they can properly educate their patients are required. The objective of the present trial is to assess the improvement in the performance of the IT in subjects with COPD and prescribed inhaled therapy after the implementation of an educational intervention conducted by their general practitioners. Methods: A cluster randomized clinical trial was conducted. A total of 286 COPD patients received scheduled inhalation therapy from 27 general practices in seven primary care centers. A teach-back educational intervention was implemented for both healthcare professionals and patients. The primary outcome of this study was the performance of the correct inhalation technique. It is considered a good technique if all steps in the inhalation data sheet are correctly performed. The secondary outcomes were assessed using forced spirometry, the basal dyspnea index, the Medical Research Council dyspnea scale, St George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), and EuroQoL5D-5L for health-related quality of life. A one-year follow-up was conducted using an intention-to-treat analysis. Results: After the intervention, incorrect IT was observed in 92% of professionals and patients, with rates reaching 50% and 69.2%, respectively. The effectiveness in patients was significant, with a number needed to treat of 2.14 (95% CI 1.79-2.66). Factors related to correct IT in patients included the type of intervention, length of intervention (>25 min), good pulmonary function, age (youngest <=65, oldest >83), and less limitation of activity due to dyspnea. There was no relation with the cluster. Conclusion: This study shows the effectiveness of direct inhaler technique training provided by a trained professional on an appropriate timescale (for example, a specific consultation for medication reviews), aiming to help subjects improve their performance using the teach-back method. This could be an encouraging intervention to improve medication adherence and health promotion in people with COPD. Clinical Trial Registration: clinicaltrials.gov, identifier ISRCTN93725230.

Evaluation of Different Doses in Inhaled Therapy: A Comprehensive Analysis

BACKGROUND

Currently, there is a considerable degree of confusion over the dosage of inhaled medications. Here, we carried out a review of all the doses used for the devices used in inhalation therapy.

METHODS

We first performed a systematic search of the different inhalation devices included on the July 2023 Spanish Ministry of Health Billing List. We then consulted the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products to find the updated official label and to obtain the information on the exact composition.

RESULTS

We identified 90 unique products, of which 22 were long-acting bronchodilators (and combinations thereof) and 68 were products containing inhaled corticosteroids (ICS). Overall, 10 products with bronchodilators and 40 with ICS were marketed with the metered dose, while 11 with bronchodilators and 28 with ICS were marketed with the delivered dose. In addition, in some bronchodilators, the drug was referred to as a type of salt, whereas in others the information referred to the drug itself.

CONCLUSIONS

Our data show that for each inhaled drug there may be up to four different doses and that the marketed name may refer to any of these. Clinicians must be aware of these different dosages when prescribing inhaled medications.

[Diagnosis and treatment of asthma: a guideline for respiratory specialists 2023 - published by the German Respiratory Society (DGP) e. V.]

The management of asthma has fundamentally changed during the past decades. The present guideline for the diagnosis and treatment of asthma was developed for respiratory specialists who need detailed and evidence-based information on the new diagnostic and therapeutic options in asthma. The guideline shows the new role of biomarkers, especially blood eosinophils and fractional exhaled NO (FeNO), in diagnostic algorithms of asthma. Of note, this guideline is the first worldwide to announce symptom prevention and asthma remission as the ultimate goals of asthma treatment, which can be achieved by using individually tailored, disease-modifying anti-asthmatic drugs such as inhaled steroids, allergen immunotherapy or biologics. In addition, the central role of the treatment of comorbidities is emphasized. Finally, the document addresses several challenges in asthma management, including asthma treatment during pregnancy, treatment of severe asthma or the diagnosis and treatment of work-related asthma.

Asthma and COPD: Comparison with International Guidelines and Medication Adherence in Belgium

Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are major chronic conditions. It is possible to limit their impact by controlling symptoms, which limits exacerbations and worsening of the disease, by choosing the appropriate treatment and ensuring that the patient adheres to it. The main purpose of this study was to assess medication adherence and persistence with inhaled medications for chronic treatment of asthma and COPD, as well as to evaluate the factors influencing this adherence. Medication adherence was measured from January 2013 to December 2016 using continuous multiple-interval measures of medication availability (CMA). Persistence was evaluated by treatment episodes (TE). We analyzed the influence of different factors on CMA such as sex, age, type of device, and the realization of the "new medicines service" (NMS), introduced in Belgium in October 2013 to support patients in adhering to their treatment. We also analyzed the consumption of these inhaled medications within the Belgian population and compared them with the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) and the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) recommendations. Medication adherence varied greatly between the different pharmacological classes: inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) alone or in combination with long-acting beta agonists (LABA) had the lowest medication adherence and persistence, while adherence was highest for the long-acting muscarinic antagonists (LAMA) and LABA/LAMA associations. The NMS seemed to have a positive impact on medication adherence, although few patients completed the two guidance interviews offered by the service. In addition, only a minority of the targeted patients took advantage of this new service.

Inhalable microparticles as drug delivery systems to the lungs in a dry powder formulations

Inhalation-administrated drugs remain an interesting possibility of addressing pulmonary diseases. Direct drug delivery to the lungs allows one to obtain high concentration in the site of action with limited systemic distribution, leading to a more effective therapy with reduced required doses and side effects. On the other hand, there are several difficulties in obtaining a formulation that would meet all the criteria related to physicochemical, aerodynamic and biological properties, which is the reason why only very few of the investigated systems can reach the clinical trial phase and proceed to everyday use as a result. Therefore, we focused on powders consisting of polysaccharides, lipids, proteins or natural and synthetic polymers in the form of microparticles that are delivered by inhalation to the lungs as drug carriers. We summarized the most common trends in research today to provide the best dry powders in the right fraction for inhalation that would be able to release the drug before being removed by natural mechanisms. This review article addresses the most common manufacturing methods with novel modifications, pros and cons of different materials, drug loading capacities with release profiles, and biological properties such as cytocompatibility, bactericidal or anticancer properties.