Accolate Uses

Accolate is used for the prevention of asthma attacks in both adults and children. While Accolate is approved for treating asthma in children as young as five years old, you should talk with your healthcare provider about the benefits and risks of using Accolate in children. On occasion, healthcare providers may also prescribe the drug for "off-label" uses. One example of an off-label Accolate use is the treatment of allergies.

 

An Overview of Accolate Uses

Accolate® (zafirlukast) is a prescription medication used for the prevention of asthma attacks.
 
Asthma is a chronic disease that affects your airways, which are the tubes that carry air into and out of your lungs. If you have asthma, the inside walls of your airways are inflamed (swollen). The inflammation makes the airways very sensitive, and they tend to react strongly to things that you are allergic to or find irritating (see Asthma Triggers). When the airways react, they narrow and less air flows to your lungs. This is called bronchospasm. It causes asthma symptoms like wheezing (a whistling sound when you breathe), coughing, tightness in the chest, and trouble breathing.
 
While there is no asthma cure, asthma can be controlled. There are many different asthma treatments, including fast-acting "rescue medications" for treating an asthma attack and longer-acting "controller medications" used to prevent asthma attacks. Accolate is a controller medication, used to help prevent asthma attacks (but not to treat an attack). Everyone who takes Accolate for asthma should also have a rescue medication (such as an albuterol inhaler) available for emergencies.
 

How Does Accolate Work?

Accolate is part of a group of medications called leukotriene modifiers. Leukotrienes are chemicals produced by the body in response to allergens or other problems. In the lungs, leukotrienes cause swelling and inflammation in the airways and constriction of the muscles of the respiratory tract.
 
Accolate works by blocking leukotriene receptors, which prevents leukotriene chemicals from causing asthma symptoms.
 
(Accolate Uses Continued: Page 2)
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Written by/reviewed by: Kristi Monson, PharmD; Arthur Schoenstadt, MD
Last reviewed by: Kristi Monson, PharmD;