Asthma patients seek an easier way.

As the number of Americans with asthma--and the number of asthma deaths each year--continue to rise, a survey by Zeneca Pharmaceuticals, Wilmington, Del., found that 97% of the 400 patients polled use an inhaler, and more than 60% wish there were an easier way to take asthma medications. Yet, only about a quarter were aware of a pill for the preventive and chronic treatment of asthma that has been available in the U.S. for more than one year. Eighty-one percent would like to reduce their need for an inhaler. Inconvenience, terrible taste, and difficulty in achieving the correct dosage were listed as some of the reasons more than half of asthma sufferers said, if given a choice, they would prefer to take a pill.

"Unfortunately, some patients also are embarrassed that they have to use an inhaler or, in many cases, they don't use it correctly," notes Phillip E. Korenblat, clinical professor of medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine in St. Louis (Mo.). "In caring for patients with asthma, education is very important. And the use of inhalers does occupy a significant amount of time when you're trying to educate the patient about their illness. The use of an inhaler for rapid relief, we still do need to have. But the daily use of a pill morning and night makes it very easy for a person to have the compliance or continuance of...