Abstract

Four years ago we reviewed the place of anticholinergic drugs for the treatment of reversible airway narrowing. The newest of these, ipratropium bromide (Atrovent - Boehringer Ingelheim) had not then been marketed in Britain, but we quoted some conflicting results of studies with this drug in asthmatic and bronchitic patients.¹ It is the only anti-cholinergic drug marketed alone as a metered-dose inhaler; others are available only as mixtures with sympathomimetics.