Antitussive Medication in Asthma, Emphysema and Chronic Bronchitis

Abstract

Cough, failure to raise inspissated mucus, wheezing and the general symptom syndrome associated with chronic bronchitis, pollen bronchitis, pollen asthma, chronic bronchial asthma, emphysema, antl broncbiectasis have long been a vexing problem to the practitioner in all fields of medicine. The search for an effective antitussive medication which would not abolish the normal activity of the cilial lining of the bronchial tree and yet afford the necessary free flow of secretion and the release of the heavier inspissated mucus has been the subject of cooperative study. Therapeutic agents which will minimize, if not completely relieve, the aggravating chronicity of coughs in the above-mentioned bronchial conditions has been under study for the past fifteen months.The unique advantage of ion exchange resin complexes for prolonging the activity of various medications and for reducing their toxicity has heen adequately demonstratetl in previously published data. Sensenbach and Hays (i) have shown that the combination of a variety of therapeutically useful drugs with certain ion exchange resins to form resin complexes is capable of producing a drug having a predictable rate of release in the gastro-intestinal tract through the mechanism of ion exchange. Becker and Szvift (2) showed that such resin complexes have a substantially lower toxicity than correspontl-