"We estimate that approximately 4,000 out of the 5,000 asthma deaths that occur in the U.S. each year are actually caused by these long-acting beta-agonists, and we urge that these agents be taken off the market," she added.

Adding an anti-inflammatory drug to a long-acting beta-agonist adds little benefit, report the Salpeters. Advair, for example, (the fourth bestselling drug in the world with $5.6 billion in annual sales), combines salmeterol with an anti-inflammatory drug to provide some protection against bronchial inflammation associated with beta-agonists. But hospitalizations still doubled for patients inhaling a long-acting beta-agonist combined with an anti-inflammatory drug compared with asthma patients taking a placebo and an anti-inflammatory drug by itself.

Of the 19 studies surveyed in the meta-analysis, the largest -- the Salmeterol Multicenter Asthma Research Trial with 26,000 participants -- reported a fourfold increased risk for asthma-related deaths and a twofold increase in life-threatening asthma events in patients using salmeterol. If older people who also suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were removed from the analysis, the Salpeters report, salmeterol would be associated with a six times greater risk for asthma-related deaths.

The meta-analysis found that 53 of 3,083 patients inhaling beta-agonists were hospitalized for an asthma attack compared with 12 of 2,008 patients who received a placebo, meaning that there was one hospitalization for every 71 patients treated with a long-acting beta-agonist per year.

The Salpeters say that these two long-acting beta-agonists can result in death because tolerance to them develops over time.

"These agents can improve symptoms through bronchodilation at the same time as increasing underlying inflammation and bronchial hyper-responsiveness, thus worsening asthma control without any warning of inc
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Contact: Joe Schwartz
bjs54@cornell.edu
607-254-6235
Cornell University News Service
19-Jun-2006