It ain't easy being wheezy: developing medicines for asthma

It ain't easy being wheezy: developing medicines for asthma

How is it that a couple of puffs of the blue asthma inhaler can relieve asthma in just a few minutes? When the blue asthma inhaler was introduced 50 years ago it revolutionised the treatment of asthma but it took decades before we really understood how to use it well. In this lecture we'll look at how salbutamol, the medicine used in the inhaler, was discovered, how it works and why it's taken so long for us to use it well.