Budesonide Attains Its Wide Clinical Profile by Alternative Kinetics

The introduction of inhaled corticosteroids (ICSs) changed over a few decades the treatment focus of mild-to-moderate asthma from bronchodilation to reduction in inflammation. This was achieved by inhaling a suitable corticosteroid (CS), giving a high, protracted airway concentration at a low total dose, thereby better combining efficacy and tolerance than oral therapy. Successful trials with the potent, lipophilic “skin” CS beclomethasone dipropionate (BDP) paved the way, suggesting that ICSs require a very low water solubility, prolonging their intraluminal dissolution within airways. The subsequent ICS development, with resulting clinical landmarks, is exemplified here with budesonide (BUD), showing that a similar efficacy/safety relationship is achievable by partly alternative mechanisms. BUD is much less lipophilic, giving it a 100-fold higher water solubility than BDP and later developed ICSs, leading to its more rapid intraluminal dissolution and faster airway and systemic uptake rates. In airway tissue, a BUD fraction is reversibly esterified to intracellular fatty acids, a lipophilic conjugate, which prolongs airway efficacy. Another mechanism is that the rapidly absorbed bulk fraction, via short plasma peaks, adds anti-inflammatory activity at the blood and bone marrow levels. Importantly, these plasma peaks are too short to provoke systemic adverse actions. Controlled clinical trials with BUD changed the use of ICS from a last resort to first-line treatment. Starting ICS treatment immediately after diagnosis (“early intervention”) became a landmark for BUD. An established dose response made BUD suitable for the treatment of patients with all degrees of asthma severity. With the development of the budesonide/formoterol combination inhaler (BUD/FORM), BUD contributed to the widely used BUD/FORM maintenance and reliever therapy (MART). Recent studies demonstrated the value of BUD/FORM as a generally recommended as-needed therapy for asthma (“anti-inflammatory reliever”, AIR). These abovementioned qualities have all influenced international asthma management and treatment guidelines.