Mometasone furoate nasal spray for the treatment of asthma

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Asthma is a common respiratory disease characterized by airway inflammation, bronchoconstriction and airway hyperresponsiveness and symptoms such as coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath and chest tightness. Allergic rhinitis is a common comorbidity in asthma and glucocorticoids are the key stone in the treatment of both diseases. Mometasone furoate is a potent synthetic steroid with a very high receptor affinity and a low bioavailability and shown to be superior compared to other inhaled corticosteroids. It is not clear whether the use of mometasone furoate nasal spray (MFNS) is associated with an improvement in asthma control.

Areas covered: This current paper reviews the current knowledge on the effect of mometasone furoate nasal spray in the treatment of asthma and includes clinical trials in which both subjective and objective outcomes are assessed.

Expert opinion: To date, only few clinical studies have investigated the effect of nasal steroids in the treatment of asthma. The studies investigating the effect of MFNS report contradicting results, although the most well-designed study to answer this question finds no improvement in asthma control. Thus, it seems unlikely that asthma guidelines will be influenced by the current knowledge on the effect of MFNS in the treatment of asthma.

KEYWORDS:

• Allergic rhinitis
• asthma
• treatment
• mometasone furoate nasal spray

Declaration of interest

V Backer has research cooperation with Novartis, AstraZeneca, Boerhinger Ingelheim, Chiesi Pharmaceuticals, ALK-Abello, Teva and GlaxoSmithKline but has received no direct financial support for this article. Furthermore, H Meteran has received honoraria for scientific presentations from Sandoz as well as research cooperation but had no direct financial support for this article either. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.