Asthma Healing

In a powerful demonstration of how intimately mind and body are linked, researchers have shown that writing about traumatic experiences measurably improves the health of some patients suffering from chronic asthma or rheumatoid arthritis.

The Food and Drug Administration approved a new inhaled drug today for treating influenza, overriding a panel of independent scientific advisers who recommended five months ago that the drug be kept off pharmacy shelves because it is only marginally effective and may be dangerous for asthma patients.

More than 500,000 emergency injection kits for treating severe allergic reactions and asthma attacks are being recalled in the United States and Canada.

The Schering-Plough Corporation is recalling five batches of Vanceril, an inhaled prescription medication for asthma, because some of the canisters may not contain active drug.

Scientists may be no closer to explaining why the incidence of asthma has been escalating in the United States, but a new study confirms that a number of common indoor materials may be making the situation worse.

The biochemistry of breathing deeply, the one thing an asthmatic cannot do in the midst of the attack, may hold a key to helping doctors treat people who have asthma.

Genentech Inc. and Novartis A.G. have partly suspended clinical trials of what is considered a highly promising drug for asthma and allergies after extremely high doses of the drug or of a related molecule caused low blood platelet counts and some deaths in monkeys.

Merck & Company has expanded its relationship with the New York office of DDB Worldwide, part of the Omnicom Group, by naming the agency to handle its Singulair anti-asthma drug, which had been handled by the New York office of FCB Worldwide, part of True North Communications. Spending was estimated at $40 million.

Schering-Plough has repeatedly failed to meet government manufacturing standards in making many of its prescription drugs including Claritin, its popular allergy medication, and Proventil, an asthma inhaler, according to federal and company documents that were disclosed yesterday.

The Immunex Corporation said yesterday that clinical trials of treatments for chronic heart failure and asthma had failed, dealing a double blow to the company's effort to expand its product line beyond its treatment for rheumatoid arthritis.

A bill gaining support in the Legislature would require that data from emergency rooms be collected and analyzed to help tackle the growth in asthma. The measure, passed by the Senate Health Committee yesterday and by the Assembly on Monday, would expand the Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System to include the asthma reports. The data could help determine how temperature, humidity, pollutants, stress and other factors cause asthma attacks. (AP)

A healthy volunteer died recently after inhaling a drug in a federally financed asthma study conducted by Johns Hopkins University, officials said yesterday. The volunteer's hospitalization after inhaling the drug led the institution to suspend the research.

Federal health officials said yesterday that they would investigate the death of a healthy volunteer in an asthma experiment at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Differences in the care given to black and white asthma patients may help explain why blacks suffer more severe symptoms and generally fare worse with the disease, researchers reported yesterday.

In the nebulous language of eulogy, Ellen Roche, a bright, healthy, 24-year-old volunteer in an asthma study at Johns Hopkins University, died for the sake of science. In clinical terms, Ms. Roche died because a chemical she inhaled in the study led to the progressive failure of her lungs and kidneys.

The German drug maker Altana said an asthma and bronchitis medicine had performed well in tests and would move into the final stage of testing, setting off a sharp rally in the company's stock price.

A report on the death of a healthy volunteer in an asthma study at Johns Hopkins University found that the university's research review board was inadequate to handle its thousands of studies and that some researchers had adversarial relationships with federal regulators.

Inhaled steroids used to treat asthma have led to bone loss at the hip in premenopausal women, researchers have found.

MOLD can cause health problems that range from itching eyes, sneezing and coughing to serious allergic reactions, asthma attacks and even permanent lung damage. And what many people do not know is that mold could be growing in their homes right now.

Some art provokes strong reactions across the centuries -- especially if it was made with eggs.