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Bettina and Philippe Bartels
Bettina Bartels, a physiotherapist from Munich, Germany,
has lived with asthma from the age of seven. Her condition
affected her involvement in sport and she also found
it difficult to breathe during her favourite hobby,
horse riding.
She now controls her asthma with an inhaler and is
able to take part in activities such as swimming with
her son, Philippe.
Philippe, who is nearly eight, has been able to take
advantage of more modern inhalers and also understands
his condition much better as a result of attending a
special asthma school where the disease and its effects
are explained.
A keen footballer, Philippe plays three times a week
for a local team.
"When I was seven, there
was not a great deal of information about asthma and
how to live with it. Today the situation has changed
considerably and Philippe is able to deal much better
with his asthma,” said Bettina.
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GlaxoSmithKline has a tradition of creating significant improvements
in asthma healthcare. We pioneered the early standard treatments
such as Ventolin in the early 1970s and in the last few years
have delivered another major leap forward with Seretide/Advair,
the first product to treat the two main components of asthma,
inflammation and bronchoconstriction, in one easy-to-use inhaler.
Despite these continuous advances, however, millions of
people still suffer from asthma and, whilst their quality
of life has improved, there is still a lot of work to do.
What's more, the worldwide incidence of asthma is increasing.
GlaxoSmithKline is still pushing the boundaries of science
to learn more about asthma. An exciting example of this work
is the recent publication by our scientists of the detailed
structure of a vital part of the human glucocorticoid receptor.
This receptor is known to control the response to common asthma
medicines and so an understanding of its structure may lead
to still more innovative therapies.
In respiratory medicine, as in our other therapy
areas, we strive to improve people's lives.
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