Is asthma research in dead end?

Despite enormous therapeutic advances, bronchial asthma remains a highly prevalent and serious health problem. Although we have learnt much about the pathogenesis of asthma and developed some new drugs within the last few years, there is still an urgent need for new treatments. The so-called single mediator approach appears to be ineffective in the treatment of asthma. Drugs with multiple sites of mode of action would have greater chances to be successfully introduced into therapy. The present drug screening strategy should be reconsidered and probably be replaced by new and more serendipity-based research. (c) 2006 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.