MONTELUKAST

Source: HINDU

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Context

While caution is being exercised everywhere, the sale of Montelukast in India is unregulated, largely irrational, and seems to be increasing exponentially.

About Montelukast

• Montelukast, sold under the brand name Singulair, is a medication approved to be prescribed daily for long-term use as a “preventer” or “controller” of asthma attacks in adults and children at least 2 years old.
• Developed by Merck and Co., it was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1998.
• It is generally less preferred for this use than inhaled corticosteroids.
• Other uses include allergic rhinitis and hives of long duration. For allergic rhinitis it is a second-line treatment.
• FDA added a ‘black box warning’ to montelukast and the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, U.K. issued a health warning saying the drug could cause serious neuropsychiatric adverse effects.
• Montelukast is in the leukotriene receptor antagonist family of medications.
• It works by blocking the action of leukotriene D4 in the lungs resulting in decreased inflammation and relaxation of smooth muscle.

Trivia

• Corticosteroids are a class of steroid hormones that are produced in the adrenal cortex of vertebrates, as well as the synthetic analogues of these hormones.
• Corticosteroid medicines are used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), asthma, allergies and many other conditions.
• They also are used to prevent organ rejection in transplant recipients.
• They do that by helping to suppress the immune system. Corticosteroids also treat Addison's disease.

About Asthma

• Asthma is a major non-communicable disease affecting both children and adults and is the most common chronic disease among children.
• Symptoms of asthma are caused by inflammation and narrowing of the small airways in the lungs and could be any combination of cough, wheeze, shortness of breath, and chest tightness.
• Most asthma-related deaths occur in low- and lower-middle-income countries where under-diagnosis and under-treatment is a challenge.
• According to the Global Burden of Disease 2021 Report, India contributes to 46 per cent of global asthma deaths. This is up from 43 per cent from the 2019 report.
• World Asthma Day is an annual event organized by the Global Initiative for Asthma and is held on the first Tuesday in May.

Sources:

HINDU