The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 269 No 7205 p8
6 July 2002

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The Lancet (www.thelancet.com)

Sodium cromoglicate fails in URTIs

A study designed to test whether sodium cromoglicate would be a useful treatment for upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) has shown that the drug does not shorten the duration of infection.

Sodium cromoglicate inhibits ICAM-1, an intracellular adhesion molecule that is the receptor for 90 per cent of human rhinoviruses. This, and the results of several efficacy studies, has raised the possibility that sodium cromoglicate could be a treatment for viral infections of this type.

However, when Dr Chris Butler and colleagues from the University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff, assigned 290 children with suspected acute viral URTI to receive either intranasal 4 per cent sodium cromoglicate spray or intranasal normal saline spray they found no difference in response between the groups.

A subgroup analysis showed that sodium cromoglicate was equally ineffective for children who were seen early on in their illness, for children who did not have a runny nose, and for children aged five years and older.

These findings, say the researchers, suggest that any lack of efficacy was not caused by the children presenting too late for treatment to be effective, nasal secretions preventing contact with target molecules, or caregivers struggling to give the nasal spray to young children (Lancet 2002; 359:2153).