New Survey Shows Asthma Patients Wish there were an Easier Way to Take their Medication

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW SURVEY SHOWS ASTHMA PATIENTS WISH THERE WERE AN EASIER WAY TO TAKE THEIR MEDICATION
81% of Those Surveyed Also Said They Would Like to Reduce Their Need for an Inhaler

WILMINGTON, Del.--March 12, 1998--As the number of Americans with asthma--and the number of asthma deaths each year--continue to rise, Zeneca Pharmaceuticals released results of their recently sponsored survey which was conducted by Wirthlin Worldwide. The survey assessed asthma patients' attitudes and compliance with their medication.

Results from the "Asthma Patient Attitudes About Medication Compliance Survey" show that 97 percent of the 400 asthma patients surveyed use an inhaler. In addition, more than 60 percent said they wish there were an easier way to take asthma medications. Yet only about a quarter were aware of a pill for the preventive and chronic treatment of asthma that has been available in the United States for more than one year.

Survey results also indicate 81 percent of asthma patients would like to reduce their need for an inhaler. Inconvenience, terrible taste, and difficulty in achieving the correct dosage were listed as some of the reasons more than half of asthma patients said, if given a choice, they would prefer to take a pill.

"Unfortunately, some patients also are embarrassed that they have to use an inhaler, or in many cases, they don't use it correctly," said Dr. Phillip E. Korenblat, clinical professor of medicine at University of Washington School of Medicine in St. Louis. "In caring for patients with asthma, education is very important. And, the use of inhalers does occupy a significant amount of time when you're trying to educate the patient about their illness. The use of an inhaler for rapid relief, we still do need to have. But the daily use of a pill morning and night makes it very easy for a person to have the compliance or continuance of care day-to-day, morning-to-night."

Results from the survey show 93 percent of asthma patients said their doctor explains how to properly take their asthma medication. But 45 percent said they are not "perfect" in how they follow their doctor's instructions regarding their medication. Nearly one-fifth of respondents rarely or never carry their relief medication with them to prevent an asthma attack. Also, according to the survey, doctors generally direct controller medications to be taken anywhere from once a day to four or more times a day, with "twice a day - once in the A.M. and once in the P.M." being the most commonly prescribed dosage frequency.

"You might think in asthma, where there might be some more acute cues that you are not doing well--you become symptomatic, you cough, you wheeze, you are short of breath--that might force people to take their medications," said Dr. Eugene R. Bleecker of the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore. "But unfortunately, compliance is not very good."

More than 14.5 million Americans live with asthma, a chronic, sometimes fatal, lung disease. For an entire generation of patients, nearly 25 years elapsed without the introduction of a single new class of therapy to treat this complex disease. In November 1996, a new class became available when Zeneca Pharmaceuticals introduced ACCOLATE (zafirlukast), a leukotriene receptor antagonist (LTRA), which is the first product in the newest class of asthma drugs (leukotriene modifiers) approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

As of February 1998, ACCOLATE was prescribed more than two million times to asthma patients ages 12 years and older for the preventive and chronic treatment of asthma. Every day, patients on therapy with ACCOLATE take one tablet in the morning and one tablet in the evening to control asthma symptoms all day and all night. ACCOLATE has been studied in more than 6,000 people worldwide. In clinical trials in patients with mild to moderate asthma, ACCOLATE was shown to improve lung function and reduce daytime and nighttime asthma symptoms. ACCOLATE also has been shown to reduce the need for inhaled medications that are commonly used to relieve acute symptoms of asthma.

ACCOLATE is generally well tolerated by most patients and is not for acute asthma attacks. Patients should consult with their doctors before changing their current asthma medication, if they are prescribed a blood thinner, if they are nursing, or if their medical condition worsens. Side effects may include headache, infection, and nausea. Zeneca Pharmaceuticals is a business unit of Zeneca Inc., a $3.4 billion bioscience business with approximately 7,200 employees in the United States Zeneca Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the U.K.-based Zeneca Group PLC (NYSE:ZEN), a major $8.6 billion international bioscience business engaged in the research, development, manufacturing, and marketing of ethical (prescription) pharmaceuticals, agricultural and specialty chemical products, and the supply of health care services.

Editor's Note: For full prescribing information, please call Michael Blash at 302-886-5465 or access the World Wide Web at www.accolateinfo.com. Survey Methodology: This study was conducted by Wirthlin Worldwide, a strategic research and consulting company, of McLean, Virginia. It was completed with 400 asthma patients between February 16 and 19, 1998. Interviews were conducted among a national sample of adults 18 and older in the continental United States. The range of error for a sample size of 400 is +/- 5% at the 95% confidence level.