FDA Panel Backs First Radio-Frequency Asthma Treatment

Federal health advisers are recommending a novel technology from Asthmatx be approved as the first non-drug treatment for asthma.

The Food and Drug Administration’s panel of respiratory device experts voted 6-1 that Asthmatx’s Alair System be approved under certain conditions, including long-term tracking of patients.

The company’s procedure, called thermoplasty, uses extreme heat to burn away lung tissue that makes it difficult to breath and causes coughing spasms and wheezing. The heat is delivered via a catheter that emits radiofrequency waves, dissolving excess muscle.

While roughly 20 million people in the U.S. suffer from asthma, thermoplasty would only be appropriate for about 2 million adults who don’t get relief from existing drugs.

10/28/2009 5:06 PM WASHINGTON (AP)