The development of a new agent for the treatment of inflammatory/allergic conditions.

The search for new drugs for the treatment of reversible obstructive airways disease has been a major pursuit of the pharmaceutical industry for almost two decades. Little progress has been achieved. The acceptance that asthma is a multi-facetted disease state has led to the development of a new complex in vivo screen in the macaque monkey. This model is mediated through mast cells which stain positively with alcian blue/safranin. A new therapeutic agent, nedocromil sodium, was significantly more active than sodium cromoglycate in this primate model of airway disease. Extensive clinical trials have shown that this new agent is effective in the treatment of the reversible component of obstructive airways disease.