Revue médicale de Liège
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Revue médicale de Liège · May 2015
[PERSONALIZED TREATMENT OF ASTHMA: THE ISSUE OF ANTI-INTERLEUKIN-5 ANTIBODIES].
Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease that often features eosinophilia, especially in its most severe forms. Monoclonal antibodies directed towards interleukin-5, such as mepolizumab or reslizumab, were shown to be very effective at reducing blood and airways eosinophilia. When administered monthly by intravenous or subcutaneous injection in severe eosinophilic asthmatic patients, they reduce severe exacerbation rate by 50 %, improve asthma control and quality of life, and have an oral glucocorticoids sparing effect in those requiring oral corticoids as maintenance therapy.
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Revue médicale de Liège · May 2015
[STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF RANDOMISED CLINICAL TRIALS: EVOLVING CHANGES ACCORDING TO PERSONALIZED MEDICINE].
Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs) represent the cornerstone of Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM). Based upon the rules of Good Clinical Practice (GCP), they offer many strengths but also present some weaknesses. The rigorous methodology used allows avoid bias related to confounding factors (through a control group), selection bias (through randomisation) and interpretation bias (through double blinding). ⋯ Furthermore, clinical trials recruit a mix of good and poor responders, so that the average therapeutic response is most often mitigated. Clinical trials must evolve according to the new concepts of personalized medicine to become even more performing. In a near future, they must progress from a statistical analysis on large cohorts of patients to a more individualized analysis guided by patient phenotype and genotype characteristics.