Emerging trends in the therapy of COPD: novel anti-inflammatory agents in clinical development.

During the past ten years, the pharmaceutical industry has focussed on treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as distinct to asthma, and no novel anti-inflammatory agents have been launched as therapies for this disease. As our understanding of the pathology of COPD has increased it has been established that the progressive pulmonary inflammation that is associated with COPD relates to disease severity. Thus, it is anticipated that drugs that reduce pulmonary inflammation will provide effective, disease-modifying therapies. Here, we consider the potential of anti-inflammatory drugs that are currently in clinical development for COPD and discuss how these might reduce pulmonary inflammation in this disease.