An antibiotic made by sanofi-aventis but not presently used for treating asthma, Telithromycin, can be used to treat patients suffering from attacks of acute asthma. The antibiotic was recently labeled by researchers as a prospective new method for helping asthma patients.

This antibiotic can speed up the recovery time by three days of patients having asthma attacks besides minimizing associated symptoms and improving lung function. Currently, steroids are used for controlling inflammation of the lungs.

From Sciencedaily.com:

Although most acute asthma attacks are recognised to be associated with viral infections, the researchers believe the positive effects of telithromycin may be a result of its impact on the atypical bacteria, Chlamydophila pneumoniae and Mycoplasma pneumoniae. They found 61 percent of the patients in the study were serologically positive for C. pneumoniae and/or M. pneumoniae, and believe the presence of these bacteria may increase the severity of asthma attacks. The researchers also believe the anti-inflammatory properties of telithromycin may play a part in reducing recovery time.

Professor Sebastian Johnston from Imperial College London, who led the research, said: “Traditionally antibiotics have not proven effective in treating asthma attacks, but this development could open up a whole new area of research in the treatment of asthma. Although we’re not sure about the exact mechanism which caused this antibiotic to be effective, this study indicates it does clearly have a beneficial effect. We still need further trials to confirm these results, to investigate the mechanisms of action of this treatment, to see if the same benefits are seen with other related antibiotics and to see which patients are most likely to benefit.”

This study investigated 278 patients at 70 centers around the world, including St Mary’s Hospital, London and the team included researchers from Imperial College London, the University of Milan, the University of Auckland, the National Jewish Medical Centre, USA, G.R. Micro Ltd, London, and sanofi-aventis, USA.