- The most effective treatment for coughs ever made could be available soon
- In a recent trial of 24 patients, the new pill reduced coughs by 75 per cent
- The NHS identified it as promising and it could be avalable in three years
Ben Spencer, Medical Correspondent For The Daily Mail
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Experts are initially focusing on people who have had a cough for months or years for which doctors can find no cause (stock photo)
The most effective treatment for coughs ever created is on the horizon, experts have announced.
A twice-a-day pill – the first new medication for the complaint in 50 years – reduced cough frequency by 75 per cent in early trials.
The drug has been identified as promising by the research arm of the NHS, which is now backing a much bigger clinical trial led by Manchester University.
If that goes well scientists hope it could be ready for general use within two to three years.
Experts are initially focusing on people who have had a cough for months or years for which doctors can find no cause.
The new drug, known for now as AF-219, blocks receptors on the throat nerve which triggers the cough reflex, effectively muting the cough response.
Most people with unexplained coughs are thought to have a hypersensitive nerve.
If the trial is successful among these hard-to-treat patients, doctors hope to move on to a wider group.
They are planning trials for patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis – a terminal lung condition affecting 35,000 people in Britain.
In time they hope to make the drug available to people with the common cough, which is usually caused by a cold virus.
The treatment promises to be a godsend to the 15 per cent of Britons who suffer from chronic coughs, defined as lasting more than eight weeks.
If it is also made available for the common cough it will benefit millions more.
At the moment the only treatments are cough syrups which ease the discomfort in the throat, or powerful painkillers such as codeine which come with severe side effects.
The last new treatment for coughs – dextromethorphan, which is used in products such as Benylin – was created 50 years ago and only reduces cough frequency by 12 per cent.
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AF-219, in comparison, was shown to reduce coughs by 75 per cent in a trial of 24 patients who took it for two weeks, according to results published in the Lancet medical journal last year.
In a second trial of 29 patients, presented at the American Thoracic Society last month, a low dose of the drug for four days was enough to reduce coughs by 54 per cent.
Experts hope the new trial of 200 people, which is funded by the NHS National Institute for Health Research, will prove even more effective because patients will take the drug for 12 weeks.
At the moment the only treatments are cough syrups (pictured) which ease the discomfort in the throat
Study leader Professor Jaclyn Smith, of the Centre for Respiratory Medicine and Allergy at Manchester University, said: ‘Some people have a persistent tickly cough caused by sensitivity of the cough nerve.
‘We have shown real progress in being able to stop that.
‘We plan to start looking at people with normal coughs as well.’
The drug is developed by a small US company called Afferent Pharmaceuticals.
In the first trial, patients found that as well as their coughs diminishing, their taste sensation was reduced.
Professor Smith’s team reduced the dose more than ten-fold and found the taste impact, the only apparent side effect, went away but the drug was still effective.
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