Improved efficacy and safety of theophylline in the control of airways hyperreactivity.

Theophylline is a potent bronchodilator that can be effective as maintenance medication for preventing chronic symptoms of asthma. Benefit and risk of toxicity both relate directly to serum concentration, however, and large interpatient variability in rates of elimination require that dosage be individualized by measurement of serum concentration. Reliably absorbed slow-release formulations provide more stable blood levels for around-the-clock therapy and thus offer both convenience and major therapeutic advantage in stabilizing the hyperreactive airways that characterize chronic asthma.