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British National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends the use of FeNO testing to help diagnose and treat asthma

Friday, 08 November 2013
Aerocrine AB (OMX Nordic Exchange: AERO) today announced that the British institution, NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) this week has published draft guidelines recommending the use of Aerocrineâ€™s NIOX MINO®and NIOX VERO® to guide the diagnosis and treatment of a type of asthma caused by airway inflammation.

Aerocrine’s NIOX MINO and NIOX VERO measures fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO)-levels, which are higher in people with asthma than in other people. Physicians use FeNO testing to identify allergic airway inflammation in patients with suspected asthma, to help predict patient response to corticosteroid therapy, as well as to help assess patient adherence to the prescribed therapy. NIOX MINO and NIOX VERO produce reliable and accurate results and are built on the recommendations from the American Thoracic Society (ATS) and the European Respiratory Society (ERS). All test values are quality assured by monitoring that the ambient and procedure conditions are correct while good repeatability allows for doing only one measurement when used in normal clinical practice.

NICE develops evidence-based guidelines that help the National Health Services, local authorities and the wider medical community deliver high-quality healthcare to the British public. The new draft guidelines recommend that FeNO tests be used to assist with the diagnosis of asthma caused by airway inflammation (called eosinophilic asthma) in people who, after initial clinical examination, are considered to have an intermediate probability of having asthma, when a trial of bronchodilator reversibility testing is intended as part of the diagnosis, and to support the management of symptomatic asthma in people whose symptoms are being treated with inhaled corticosteroids.

“An accurate diagnosis of asthma is often very complicated and can sometimes take many years. That can mean that treatments can be less than optimal – for example, the use of corticosteroids in people whose condition does not respond to this drug – and this can have a direct impact on a person’s health,” says Professor Carole Longson, NICE Health Technology Evaluation Centre Director.

In people already diagnosed with asthma, changes in FeNO levels can indicate how well they are responding to treatment with corticosteroids, and whether they are taking their medication as prescribed. One study shows that 30% of people diagnosed with asthma do not take their medication to control their asthma as prescribed.

“The Committee heard from a patient expert that FeNO-guided management could result in the patients better understanding their own disease and disease progression and make them more willing to accept the need for anti-inflammatory treatment to control their asthma. This could help avoid hospitalization because of exacerbations and improve patient experience,” says Professor Longson.

The Committee concluded that measuring FeNO should be used as an add-on to current clinical diagnosis and management in people with asthma because FeNO-measurement alone had not been shown to be able to reliably replace other tests and clinical observations.

“Aerocrine is very pleased with the preliminary recommendations by NICE. We have found the process very thorough and collaborative. We look forward to more doctors and patients gaining access to this leading edge method of managing airway inflammation “, says Scott Myers, CEO of Aerocrine.

It was Aerocrine’s founders who first discovered the link between FeNO and asthma caused by airway inflammation. Today, Aerocrine is the world leader in FeNO measurement and the only device manufacturer with a global presence and FDA clearance for devices to be used for clinical practice.
From a press release

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