Mometasone furoate: an inhaled glucocorticoid for the management of asthma in adults and children.

Mometasone furoate has been available for clinical use, starting with a dermatologic preparation, for nearly 20 years. An inhaled format of the drug for management of asthma had been in development during the last decade and has been available for clinical use for 6 years as a dry powder inhaler delivering either 100 mcg or 200 mcg per dose. It has a long half-life and is suitable for daily dosing. The drug is approved for use in the USA for the treatment of asthma in patients aged 4 years or over. Mometasone furoate is a topically potent glucocorticoid with a favorable risk-benefit profile. A wide variety of randomized clinical trials have shown the drug to have a clinically beneficial effect on asthma comparable to fluticasone propionate, and to permit the reduction or withdrawal of oral glucocorticoid therapy in patients with asthma. Mometasone furoate has approximately 1% oral bioavailability but does produce systemic glucocorticoid effects from the drug released from the lung and its metabolites. These effects are minimal when mometasone is used appropriately at low or moderate doses.