Advances in
drug formulation,
inhalation device design and disease management are generating new opportunities for patients suffering from
obstructive pulmonary diseases. This article provides a comprehensive review of the different promising pulmonary
drug delivery technologies in the treatment of
obstructive pulmonary diseases, particularly with regard to the treatment of
asthma and chronic
pulmonary diseases (
COPD), which are increasing day by day due to increasing environmental pollution and its harmful and toxic contaminants. In the recent years, a better knowledge has been gained regarding the mechanism of action of
glucocorticoids and how they suppress the chronic
inflammation. New etiology has been brought into light regarding the inactivity of
glucocorticoids in some patients having
asthma and COPDs even though the inflammatory genes are triggered by similar molecules in both the diseases. This new knowledge has given a new platform to improve
glucocorticoids and their resistance also how other combination
therapy can be used for these diseases. It has also led to the quest for improving and developing other alternatives such as anti-
leukotriene agents, muscarinic inhibitors, combination
therapy, as well as
biologic immune-modulators in the treatment of the different
pulmonary diseases. Several new combinations of
glucocorticoids are available in the global market for the use in
pulmonary diseases especially
asthma although their availability fluctuates between continents. There has been several studies done regarding the variation of effectiveness of the different inhaled
glucocorticoids and hence it is important to take into consideration the different delivery systems and the methods which are used to treat the patients.