text_1: Asthma pill could reduce symptoms in severe sufferers
text_2: This release explains the results of a small clinical trial testing whether the use of a new drug, fevipiprant, would be effective in reducing the serious symptoms of asthma. It does a good job of reporting data on the primary goal of the research and then slips when suggesting the research had other positive outcomes but fails to provide any data backing that up. The release is further weakened by its inclusion of what is basically a testimonial for the new drug by one of the participants in the study. And it fails to mention either costs or possible harms from using the drug, and ignores some rather substantial conflicts of interest among the investigators. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute says more than 22 million Americans have asthma, including about 6 million children. There are many more millions with the condition worldwide. A daily pill that might alleviate serious symptoms of the disease, or even prevent asthma attacks, would be a boon to public health, especially considering some of the shortcomings of other current treatments. New medications to treat the underlying problem, namely airway inflammation, are needed and would translate into improved health for this very common and sometimes serious medical problem. This release may have helped spawn two news stories that we also reviewed that had glaringly different story framing. One was by Reuters and the other by Medical Daily. The latter of the two didn’t offer “anything beyond what is in the news release,” according to reviewers.