Breathing through bone drugs

Reversing or halting progressive airway damage is still the biggest challenge in COPD, but a study from Japan suggests a subclass of osteoporosis drugs could offer a new way to tackle the disease that takes advantage of the compounds' ability to suppress macrophages. The strategy capitalizes on new thinking that alveolar macrophages play a dominant pathological role in COPD, but some researchers question whether suppressing the cells will remove a key mechanism for preventing infection in the lungs.

In chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the characteristic decrease in airflow is caused by inflammation, which causes the hallmark breakdown of elastin and destroys the integrity of the alveolar walls...