A Taiwanese research team has identified a new direction for treatment, which is good news for patients with hard-to-control severe asthma.

• Asthma is mostly treated with inhaled medications, but about 15% of patients still cannot keep their condition under control even after taking them.
• Even with the biologics and targeted drugs developed in recent years, only one-third of severe asthma patients can achieve good control, and they often have to visit the emergency room or even be admitted to intensive care.
• The Taipei Medical University (TMU) team discovered a cytokine called "IL-6" that is linked to the damaged airway cells of severe asthma patients, which may be developed into a targeted drug in the future.
• This kind of drug may not necessarily cure asthma, but it holds promise for making the condition easier to control, reducing attacks, and protecting long-term lung function.
• In addition, a drug originally used for colorectal cancer has shown a protective effect on asthmatic lungs in animal experiments, and a pharmaceutical company has expressed interest in investing in its development.

Outlook: The targeted drug aimed at IL-6 is still in the early stages, while the cancer drug is undergoing final preclinical toxicology testing, so it will still take time before patients can actually use them.