budesonide

Last reviewed 01/2018

Budesonide is a corticosteroid. It is primarily used as inhaled prophylaxis in asthma but may also be prescribed for the relief of:

• allergic and vasomotor rhinitis
• severe skin inflammation, e.g. eczema and psoriasis
• Crohn's disease affecting the ileum or ascending colon; ulcerative colitis involving rectal and recto-sigmoid disease

There is evidence that controlled-release budesonide is more effective at inducing remission in patients with active Crohn's disease than mesalazine (1).

Ref: NEJM (1989), 339, 370-4.