VIDEO: Some medications ‘are being reimagined’ to use differently in pediatric asthma

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So, a lot of the same options for children with asthma are available as an adult with asthma. A lot of them are the exact same. There just might be a different dosage.

So, more recently, the guidelines have said, you know, we have our inhalers for asthma, and they have different things inside of them. And the different things inside of them, we've realized could be better than the albuterol alone. So, we used to use albuterol alone as a rescue, but now, some people are using the same inhaler for everyday use and the one that they use as needed. And that's a huge shift in pediatric asthma that is really important.

So, some of the old meds are being re-imagined to use in a different way, which is really cool. And then there's a few newer inhalers that are done in a different way that you could inhale more like a nebulizer, because we're trying to move away from the nebulizer because you can get more infections that way and spread it all over the place. And also, we know that the inhaler with the proper technique can be actually better for you and you can get the medicine easier.

The other ones that are available now that weren't before are things like biologic medications. And so, these are injections most frequently that can happen on a pattern of every two weeks to every four weeks, to every eight weeks, depending. And some that are in trials for research that could be even less frequent than that. And those are for people with moderate or severe asthma that just aren't getting the relief that they require, and those medications can change your life. And in some instances also, improve the lung function as well.