FACTBOX: Asthma drugs attack from several angles

(Reuters) - New federal guidelines on asthma recommend inhaled drugs called corticosteroids as the first line of treatment.

They are among several classes of drugs marketed to treat asthma, which affects 300 million people worldwide.

Corticosteroids reduce inflammation in the bronchial tubes, which carry air to the lungs. They can also help reduce the production of mucus.

Inhaled corticosteroids include GlaxoSmithKline's fluticasone, sold alone under the brand name Flovent and also as part of its Advair product, which combines the two drugs fluticasone and salmeterol.

Budesonide is sold by AstraZeneca under the brand name Pulmicort and triamcinolone is marketed by Abbott under the brand name Azmacort.

Other inhaled corticosteroids include beclomethasone, made by Teva Pharmaceuticals under the brand name Qvar, and Schering-Plough's inhaled corticosteroid Asmanex, known generically as mometasone.

Xolair, made by Genentech and Novartis, is a monoclonal antibody, an engineered protein that blocks the immune system compound immunoglobulin E, overproduced during an allergic asthma attack.

Known generically as omalizumab, it is injected and approved only for people over the age of 12.

Among the other classes of drugs are long-acting beta-2 agonists -- bronchodilators that open constricted airways.