Beclomethasone dipropionate is a corticosteroid. In its active form, 17-beclomethasone monopropionate, it binds to glucocorticoid receptors and reduces inflammation. Because of its anti-inflammatory properties, inhaled beclomethasone dipropionate is used to treat asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder. In Europe, it is used in a drug cocktail with formoterol fumarate, a bronchodilator, and glycopyrronium bromide, which reduces bronchial secretions.
A team of European researchers wanted to confirm whether this drug cocktail reaches the peripheral lungs. If so, there is a much higher chance that it can effectively treat asthma. The researchers recruited ten healthy people and nine people with asthma for a clinical trial. The trial participants first inhaled a drug cocktail that was labelled with technetium-99 (tek-nē-shē-əm). Then their lungs were imaged using gamma scintigraphy. The study found that about 25% of the inhaled drug was deposited in the lungs, and half of that made it into the peripheral lungs.
There was no significant difference in drug deposition between healthy people and people with asthma. As such, these results are encouraging. It suggests that the beclomethasone dipropionate/formoterol fumarate/glycopyrronium bromide cocktail gets delivered correctly for people with asthma.
Usmani S, Baldi S, Warren S, et al. Lung deposition of inhaled extrafine beclomethasone dipropionate/formoterol fumarate/glycopyrronium bromide in healthy volunteers and asthma: the STORM study. J Aerosol Med Pulm Drug Deliv. 2022 Aug;35(4):179-185. doi: 10.1089/jamp.2021.0046. PMID: 35128939