Researchers test drug combination to treat nasal, ocular allergy symptoms

MedPage Today (11/11, Smith) reported that, according to a study published in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology and presented at an allergy conference, “the combination of azelastine (Astelin or Astepro) and fluticasone propionate (Flonase) gave significantly better nasal symptom relief than placebo or either drug alone.” Investigators “enrolled 610 patients with moderate-to-severe allergic rhinitis,” randomly assigning them “to get either azelastine, fluticasone, the combination nasal spray, or a placebo nasal spray twice a day for two weeks.” They discovered that “the combination was significantly better than either drug alone or placebo at relieving nasal symptoms,” but “the two drugs delivered together — a combination dubbed MP29-02 — were not significantly better than either drug as monotherapy for ocular symptoms.”