Potential future therapies for the management of cough: ACCP evidence-based clinical practice guidelines

Background: When the etiology of a patient's chronic cough is established, specific antitussive therapy that is aimed at a particular cause of cough is highly effective. Nevertheless, in certain situations, therapy with cough suppressants, which previously were classified as nonspecific antitussive therapy, and which aim at suppressing the cough reflex regardless of the cause of cough, will be necessary. Methodology: The data for this review were obtained with the aid of a National Library of Medicine (PubMed) search, which was performed in June 2004, of literature published in the English language from 1966 to 2004, using the search terms "cough," "antitussive," "pharmacotherapy," "future therapies," and "potential therapies." Results/conclusions: Currently available cough-suppressant therapy is severely limited by a dearth of effective agents and/or their unacceptable side effects. Several classes of pharmacologic agents are currently under investigation in an attempt to develop clinically useful cough suppressants.