Abstract
Immunomodulators are among the widely prescribed drugs in the Czech Republic, used primarily to strengthen mucosal immunity, to prevent recurrent respiratory tract infections and to favorably affect the course of most atopic diseases. However, we definitely consider them a controversial group of drugs.
This is evidenced, for example, by the fact that although immunomodulators have a long tradition and a consistently important position in our country, there are still a number of developed countries in which they enter the market very slowly or are not registered as drugs at all. The most commonly used immunomodulators in our country include extracts or lysates from certain bacterial strains (bacterial immunomodulators), lyophilized ultrafiltrates of peripheral blood leukocytes (Immodin and Imunor) and immunoglobulins, which are used in high doses to replace antibody deficits.
In low doses, however, we use their immunomodulatory effect. Immunomodulators also include some chemically defined products of the pharmaceutical industry, such as isoprinosine with a proven stimulatory effect on T lymphocytes and an inhibitory effect on the replication of some viruses.
Allergen immunotherapy is also widely used in the Czech and Slovak Republics. Although its efficacy has been repeatedly demonstrated in double-blind, placebo-controlled studies, its prevalence is very different in different countries around the world.
The reason may be both economic and time-consuming, as well as concerns about possible serious reactions during it. Revealing the causes of recurrent respiratory diseases is the basis for rational therapy, in which the relevant immunomodulators have their place in a complex of other treatment and regimen measures.