Illustration of man using inhaler

New Jersey Medical School researchers have identified a treatment that could lead to a more effective drug therapy for people with asthma and other respiratory disorders. In a study published in Science Translational Medicine, Luis Ulloa, the lead author and an immunologist at the medical school, and collaborators from Shanghai University examined more than 6,000 compounds over four years and identified a drug (TSG12) that opens the airways in asthma sufferers. “It is not a cure, but this treatment will give people a lot of hope,” says Ulloa. Unlike current treatments that either have side effects or stop working, TSG12 is nontoxic and doesn’t lose its effectiveness. The next step would be clinical trials.