World Asthma Day marked with charity cycle ride

Cipla website launch

Cyclists ready to start the ride

As the WHO states asthma is a major non-communicable disease characterised by recurrent attacks of breathlessness and wheezing. It often starts in childhood, but attacks all age groups. Severity and frequency vary from person to person. Symptoms may occur several times in a day or week in affected individuals.

Cipla, a leading pharmaceutical company together with Sri Lanka College of Pulmonologists (SLCP) and the Big Life magazine marked the World Asthma Day 2022 with fun cycle ride on Saturday, May 7th. at the NCC, Colombo 07. 

The cycling event was organized to educate friends, family, and patients about asthma and promote awareness about how this serious, sometimes life-threatening, chronic respiratory disease can be controlled.

Dr Ravini De Silva Karunatillake, President of the Sri Lanka College of Pulmonologists speaking at the event said asthma is always easier to control when diagnosed earlier and when one consistently stays on a treatment plan. “We are happy to partner with Cipla to help increase both relevance and acceptance of inhalation therapy thereby ensuring better follow-up with optimal outcomes for asthmatics. This association directly resonates with our endeavor of enabling people with asthma to achieve more in their daily lives.”

Cipla Sri Lanka over the course of its journey in the country in the last two decades has introduced several novel and important products. Besides focusing on unmet patient needs, it has gone ‘beyond the pill’ to foster disease awareness and lend patient support. The company has continually led the charge in reinforcing awareness over the last 25 years about asthma with the objective to help increase acceptance of inhalation therapy as the foremost and most effective medication among asthmatics, caregivers and the general public. As a part of a holistic multipronged campaign, Cipla also launced a website to help spread the word regarding the need for an attitudinal change towards inhalation therapy as the most effective for asthma management vis-à-vis oral medication.

Azam Jaward, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of  Cipla Limited said the organization has always placed patient well-being at the core of all its initiatives and believed in a holistic approach to disease management. “We are continuously working towards providing people with asthma the right treatment while ensuring everyone is made aware about its long-term implications.” 

Inhalation therapy is the foremost and most effective medication for any asthmatic patient compared to oral therapies like tablets and syrups. In inhalation therapy, the drug acts directly in the lungs instead of flowing through the bloodstream and other organs of the body. Thus, there is lesser drug required and hence fewer side effects. It is in fact the safe treatment option for asthmatics.