This page shows what was measured, who it was measured in, and what that does not settle.
What Beclometasone does in the body
A daily preventer inhaler for asthma, and a nasal spray for hay fever
What comes out of the inhaler is not the active drug. It is a chemical precursor that the lining of the airway rapidly converts into the working form, which then enters the cells, binds a receptor and carries it into the nucleus to switch off inflammatory genes. Because the conversion happens where the drug lands, the effect is concentrated there — but not confined there, and the label carries the measurement that proves it: at the top licensed dose, the body’s own cortisol production drops by more than a third.
What happened in people
Mean growth of 5.0 cm against 5.9 cm over one year in 100 randomised children on intranasal beclometasone, evident by the one-month visit
✎ Source-linked record
Where this came from
A person wrote this into the record with the study named beside it. No reviewer has signed it off.
The recorded finding that sits closest to something a person would notice. Written into the record, not signed off, and it carries no population or interval.
Only four listed presentations remain in the CMS acquisition survey, all brand, at about thirty dollars a gram
Where it acts
Airway epithelium and submucosal inflammatory cells (inhaled); nasal mucosa (spray and nasal aerosol)
Kind of result
The kind of result is not recorded
Supervision
RNAWiki has not recorded a supervision or regulatory status for this substance.
What the registries record it as
The substance registry classes this as chemical.
FDA substance registry · KGZ1SLC28Z · read 2026-08-29
Its recorded molecular formula is C28H37ClO7, weighing 521.1.
US prescribing information · ccd3aaec-4892-40d0-ad60-3e570178fbe1 · read 2026-08-30
Where each sentence above came from
No recorded sentence describes the change this makes in a way that stands on its own. The page opens with what it is taken for instead, and the recorded explanation follows below.
Shown as the opening line on this page.
A limit recorded against this substance. Not signed off as a reviewed claim.
The four opening statements run to 129 words.
Words this page uses
Four words worth knowing first
Chosen from what this page shows, with each one explained before the word it depends on.
Placebo
A placebo is a dummy treatment given so the real one can be compared with it.
A picture of it, and where the picture fails
A placebo is like a blank control in an experiment.
Where that stops being true. A blank does nothing. People given a placebo often do get better.
What people get wrong. A placebo effect is read as imaginary. The improvement is measured and real.
An inactive intervention matched in appearance to the test intervention, used to control for non-specific effects.
Comparator
A comparator is whatever the treatment was measured against.
A picture of it, and where the picture fails
It is like the other runner in a race.
Where that stops being true. A race has one winner. A study can show both arms improved.
What people get wrong. Results are read without asking what the other group got. Beating nothing is not beating a treatment.
The control condition against which the experimental intervention is assessed.
Randomisation
Randomisation means chance decides who gets which treatment.
A picture of it, and where the picture fails
It is like a coin toss deciding the groups.
Where that stops being true. A coin toss is fair once. Fairness here comes from doing it for everyone.
What people get wrong. It is thought to make groups identical. It makes them similar on average, including on things nobody measured.
Allocation of participants to arms by a chance process, so that unmeasured factors are balanced in expectation.
What happened in people◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
What happened in people
Each card is one study: the exact question it asked, who was in it, and whether it showed what it set out to show.
Rate of change in standing height over one year in prepubertal children aged 6 to 9 with perennial allergic rhinitis
✓ The study showed what it set out to show
Who was studied
Skoner 2000 — one-year intranasal growth study in children
Growth rate significantly slower on beclometasone in both intention-to-treat and completer analyses; mean change in standing height 5.0 cm against 5.9 cm at one year, difference evident by the one-month visit
Repeated elsewhere
Replicated
What this does not prove. Meeting one endpoint in one population does not carry to other goals or other people.
The limits of this study, and where it came from
Main limit. There was a statistically significant baseline imbalance in standing height, handled by analysis of covariance and confirmed by z-score normalisation. No between-group difference was found in HPA-axis assessment, so a normal cortisol test did not detect the effect that height measurement did.
How far it carries. This study is recorded from the curated record, not from the registry match.
Form and route. Breath-actuated pressurised metered-dose inhalation aerosol with dose counter, and nasal aerosol and aqueous nasal spray
Interval reported. Not recorded in this summary
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim.
BEST — as-needed beclometasone with albuterol in a single inhaler for mild asthma (NCT00382889) · a recorded source, not a stored snapshot
Morning peak expiratory flow rate
✓ The study showed what it set out to show
Who was studied
BEST (NCT00382889)
How many people
455
Study design
Phase 4, randomised, double-blind, double-dummy, four-arm, six months
Compared against
Not recorded for this study
Kind of result
A number that stands in for health
What was found
As-needed combination against as-needed albuterol: higher morning peak flow (P=0.04) and fewer exacerbations (P=0.002); not significantly different from either regular-treatment arm; cumulative beclometasone dose lower than both regular arms (P<0.001)
Repeated elsewhere
Replicated
What this does not prove. Meeting one endpoint in one population does not carry to other goals or other people.
The limits of this study, and where it came from
Main limit. The primary endpoint is a peak-flow measurement over the final two weeks of six months in mild asthma, not an exacerbation endpoint in a high-risk population. The exacerbation finding is a secondary result in 455 patients.
How far it carries. This study is recorded from the curated record, not from the registry match.
Form and route. Breath-actuated pressurised metered-dose inhalation aerosol with dose counter, and nasal aerosol and aqueous nasal spray
Interval reported. Not recorded in this summary
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim.
BEST — as-needed beclometasone with albuterol in a single inhaler for mild asthma (NCT00382889) · a recorded source, not a stored snapshot
24-hour urinary free cortisol on QVAR MDI 80, 160 or 320 micrograms twice daily against placebo and against CFC-beclometasone 336 micrograms twice daily
✓ The study showed what it set out to show
Who was studied
QVAR HPA-axis pharmacodynamic study
How many people
40
Study design
Randomised, placebo- and active-controlled pharmacodynamic study
Compared against
A dummy treatment
Kind of result
A number that stands in for health
What was found
Dose-related reduction in 24-hour urinary free cortisol: 12.2% at 80 micrograms twice daily, 24.6% at 160 and 37.3% at 320, against 47.3% for CFC-BDP 336 micrograms twice daily
Repeated elsewhere
Unreplicated
What this does not prove. Meeting one endpoint in one population does not carry to other goals or other people.
The limits of this study, and where it came from
Main limit. Forty corticosteroid-naive patients. The separate one-year open-label study in 354 patients found fewer than 1% with an abnormal short-cosyntropin response, so the dose-related cortisol suppression is detectable long before a clinical adrenal test becomes abnormal.
How far it carries. This study is recorded from the curated record, not from the registry match.
Form and route. Breath-actuated pressurised metered-dose inhalation aerosol with dose counter, and nasal aerosol and aqueous nasal spray
Interval reported. Not recorded in this summary
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim.
BEST — as-needed beclometasone with albuterol in a single inhaler for mild asthma (NCT00382889) · a recorded source, not a stored snapshot
What we know
RNAWiki holds 3 written-up human studies for this substance, each with the question it asked.
How we know it
Each card names the study, the number of people and what the study set out to measure.
What this does not prove
These summaries were written by a person and have not been signed off as reviewed claims.
Why it matters
A study that failed is as informative as one that worked, and both are here.
What we still do not know
No reviewed claim exists, so no exact population, effect size or interval is published yet.
What it changes in the body◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
The path through the body
From what a person takes to what changes. A solid line is a step measured in people. A dashed line is a step nobody has measured that way.
Start
Beclometasone
What a person takes: Breath-actuated pressurised metered-dose inhalation aerosol with dose counter, and nasal aerosol and aqueous nasal spray.
The measurement behind this step
Inhaled twice daily for asthma maintenance and never for acute symptoms. The current inhaler is a hydrofluoroalkane solution aerosol producing a much finer particle distribution than the chlorofluorocarbon suspensions it replaced, which changed how deep the drug travels and, on the label’s own cortisol data, how much systemic effect a given nominal dose produces.
Getting in
Inhaled as a fine solution aerosol
A breath-actuated inhaler releases a mist that is much finer than the older versions of this product were. Finer particles travel further into the lung and less of the dose is left in the mouth.
╌╌Described, with no measurement named. No measurement is named for this step, so it is drawn as an unconfirmed link.
The measurement behind this step
Beclometasone dipropionate dissolved in hydrofluoroalkane propellant with an ethanol cosolvent, delivered by a breath-actuated pressurised metered-dose inhaler with a dose counter. The predecessor products were CFC-propelled suspensions with a coarser aerosol, and the label carries a head-to-head pharmacodynamic comparison of the two.
It is converted to the working molecule on arrival
What lands in the airway is a precursor. Enzymes in the tissue strip one of its two chemical side groups off, and the result is the molecule that actually does the work.
╌╌Described, with no measurement named. No measurement is named for this step, so it is drawn as an unconfirmed link.
The measurement behind this step
The label describes beclometasone dipropionate as a prodrug rapidly activated by hydrolysis to the active monoester, beclometasone-17-monopropionate, undergoing rapid and extensive conversion during absorption. The 17-monopropionate is the species with pharmacological activity.
The converted molecule binds a receptor waiting in the cell — about twenty-five times more tightly than the version that was inhaled would have done.
──Measured in people. Written by a person from the study named beside the step. Not signed off as a reviewed claim.
The measurement behind this step
Beclometasone-17-monopropionate binds the human glucocorticoid receptor in vitro with an affinity approximately 13 times that of dexamethasone, 6 times triamcinolone acetonide, 1.5 times budesonide and 25 times beclometasone dipropionate, with clinical significance stated as unknown.
The receptor carries the drug into the nucleus and switches off the genes making inflammatory signals. It takes days, which is why this inhaler is useless during an attack.
╌╌Described, with no measurement named. No measurement is named for this step, so it is drawn as an unconfirmed link.
The measurement behind this step
The label states that the precise mechanism of corticosteroid action on asthma is not known, and describes inhibition of mast cells, eosinophils, basophils, lymphocytes, macrophages and neutrophils and of histamine, eicosanoids, leukotrienes and cytokines.
The lining becomes less swollen and less reactive. In mild asthma, taking it only when symptoms occurred matched taking it twice daily on peak flow and exacerbations over six months.
╌╌Described, with no measurement named. No measurement is named for this step, so it is drawn as an unconfirmed link.
The measurement behind this step
In BEST, as-needed beclometasone-albuterol in a single inhaler gave higher morning peak expiratory flow (P=0.04) and fewer exacerbations (P=0.002) than as-needed albuterol alone, and did not differ significantly from regular twice-daily beclometasone, at a significantly lower cumulative corticosteroid dose (P<0.001).
At the highest recommended inhaled dose, the body’s own cortisol output falls by 37%. In children, a year of the nasal spray cost 0.9 cm of growth. Neither is a reason to leave asthma untreated; both are reasons to use the lowest dose that works.
──Measured in people. Written by a person from the study named beside the step. Not signed off as a reviewed claim.
The measurement behind this step
Twenty-four-hour urinary free cortisol fell 12.2% at 80 micrograms twice daily, 24.6% at 160 and 37.3% at 320, with fewer than 1% of 354 patients showing an abnormal short-cosyntropin response after a year at recommended doses. The intranasal growth trial found 5.0 cm against 5.9 cm over a year with no HPA-axis difference — growth velocity being the more sensitive measure.
No suggested links are held for this record, so nothing is hidden from this path.
What we know
The record describes 6 steps from taking it to an effect in a person.
How we know it
Each step names the study behind it in the technical detail beside it.
What this does not prove
A change inside the body is a reason to look. It is not a result in a person.
Why it matters
A reader can see exactly where the chain stops being measured in people.
What we still do not know
No reviewed claim binds any of these steps to a named population.
What is missing or unclear◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
Were people like you studied?
RNAWiki cannot tell whether a study fits you. It can show who was in it, and where the result stops carrying.
Who was studied
People similar to this profile were included.
People with persistent asthma from age 4, and people with allergic rhinitis. It is one of the oldest inhaled corticosteroids in use and remains widely prescribed worldwide.
Who is missing from the studies
Which groups were under-represented in the studies has not been recorded for this substance. Pregnancy, breastfeeding, children, older adults, and people with liver or kidney conditions are commonly excluded from trials; nothing here says whether they were.
What the label states about particular groups
On pediatric, the label states: “The safety and effectiveness of QVAR REDIHALER in children below 4 years of age have not been established.”
US prescribing information · ccd3aaec-4892-40d0-ad60-3e570178fbe1 · read 2026-08-30
On older people, the label states: “Clinical studies of QVAR REDIHALER did not include sufficient numbers of patients aged 65 and over to determine whether they respond differently from younger patients.”
US prescribing information · ccd3aaec-4892-40d0-ad60-3e570178fbe1 · read 2026-08-30
On people who are pregnant, the label states: “Risk Summary There are no adequate and well‑controlled studies with QVAR REDIHALER or beclomethasone dipropionate in pregnant women.”
US prescribing information · ccd3aaec-4892-40d0-ad60-3e570178fbe1 · read 2026-08-30
On people who are breastfeeding, the label states: “Risk Summary There are no data available on the presence of beclomethasone dipropionate in human milk, the effects on the breastfed child, or the effects on milk production.”
US prescribing information · ccd3aaec-4892-40d0-ad60-3e570178fbe1 · read 2026-08-30
Where the result stopped carrying
A year of the nasal spray produced measurable growth suppression in a randomised trial while the accompanying adrenal testing found nothing
Cortisol output fell in a dose-related way at every inhaled dose studied, including the lowest
The matched study of another intranasal steroid published alongside it found no growth effect, so the finding is drug-specific rather than class-wide
The propellant reformulation changed systemic effect at an equivalent nominal dose, invalidating the old dose-equivalence assumptions
This is a scope explorer, not a diagnosis engine.
It shows who was studied so you can see whether people similar to you were included.
RNAWiki cannot tell whether a study fits you. It can show who was in it.
What it would be like to take◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
Why it might seem to do nothing
A real effect and a noticed effect are different things. These are the recorded reasons the two come apart.
It was studied in different people
The people in the studies were not much like the reader.
On this record: Which groups were under-represented in the studies has not been recorded for this substance. Pregnancy, breastfeeding, children, older adults, and people with liver or kidney conditions are commonly excluded from trials; nothing here says whether they were.
The evidence may simply be wrong
Small early studies often do not hold up.
On this record: RNAWiki has not yet published a reviewed conclusion for this use.
Other reasons RNAWiki checked and found nothing for (11)
It was studied for a different goal
The studies measured something else entirely. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
A different form was studied
The studied form is not the form on the shelf. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
There was nothing to correct
Where a level is already normal, topping it up may change nothing. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
Something else had to happen too
In the studies it was paired with training, a diet or another treatment. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
The change is too small to feel
A real change can still sit below what a person notices. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
Day-to-day swing hides it
Sleep, food, stress and time of day move most numbers more than this would. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
Not enough time yet
The studies ran longer than the person has waited. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
It was not taken as studied
Missed days change the result, and studies count them. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
Something else changed at the same time
Two changes at once cannot be told apart afterwards. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
The product may not be what it says
Contents of a sold product are not always what the label states. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
No recorded reason
RNAWiki has nothing stored that would explain it. Nothing in this record points to this reason.
None of these is a reason to take more. Taking more is not a step this page ever suggests.
What it would be like to take◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
What taking it involves
The recorded facts about getting hold of it and using it. Nothing here is a suggestion about what you should do.
How it is supplied
Prescription only
❝ Quoted from a source
Where this came from
Copied from a source RNAWiki stored, with the source named.
Read from the recorded approval status.
No source is stored against this line.
Form and route
Breath-actuated pressurised metered-dose inhalation aerosol with dose counter, and nasal aerosol and aqueous nasal spray
✎ Source-linked record
Where this came from
A person wrote this into the record with the study named beside it. No reviewer has signed it off.
The form and route recorded on this substance.
No source is stored against this line.
Who oversees it
RNAWiki has not recorded a supervision or regulatory status for this substance.
❝ Quoted from a source
Where this came from
Copied from a source RNAWiki stored, with the source named.
No register row and no identity class settled the question.
No source is stored against this line.
What is in the pack
Inhaled twice daily for asthma maintenance and never for acute symptoms.
✎ Source-linked record
Where this came from
A person wrote this into the record with the study named beside it. No reviewer has signed it off.
Recorded notes on how this is sold. The rest of the recorded wording: The current inhaler is a hydrofluoroalkane solution aerosol producing a much finer particle distribution than the chlorofluorocarbon suspensions it replaced, which changed how deep the drug travels and, on the label’s own cortisol data, how much systemic effect a given nominal dose produces.
No source is stored against this line.
Where it is registered
Regulatory records are listed in the technical disclosure at the foot of this page.
# Counted from records
Where this came from
A count of rows RNAWiki holds. It describes our records, not your body.
Register entries are stored per jurisdiction and shown with their dates.
No source is stored against this line.
Why people stop
Not recorded.
∅ Nothing recorded
Where this came from
RNAWiki holds nothing here and says so rather than guessing.
No record of why people stopped taking it is stored for this substance.
No source is stored against this line.
What it would be like to take◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
What can go wrong
Sorted by where each line came from. A regulator's label and a report somebody sent in are not the same kind of fact.
·Worth asking a clinician aboutWritten into the record from the studies named on this page
Not for relief of acute symptoms; rapidly deteriorating asthma requires immediate re-evaluation. Oropharyngeal candidiasis with periodic monitoring and rinsing without swallowing after inhalation. Risk of impaired adrenal function when transferring from systemic corticosteroids, requiring slow tapering. Immunosuppression with potential worsening of tuberculosis and of fungal, bacterial, viral, parasitic and ocular herpes simplex infection, and a more serious or fatal course of chickenpox or measles in susceptible patients. Paradoxical bronchospasm with an immediate increase in wheezing after dosing requires immediate short-acting bronchodilator treatment and discontinuation. Dose-related reduction in 24-hour urinary free cortisol was measured at every dose studied, reaching 37.3% at the highest recommended dose.
Nobody counted how many people took this and were fine, so this cannot be turned into a rate.
Over a long time. No completed tested study window is recorded, so long-term effects are not established by the registry record.
Groups the studies covered thinly. Which groups were under-represented in the studies has not been recorded for this substance. Pregnancy, breastfeeding, children, older adults, and people with liver or kidney conditions are commonly excluded from trials; nothing here says whether they were.
What is missing or unclear◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
Does the exact form matter?
Evidence belongs to the exact thing that was tested. A different salt, a different mixture or a different preparation is a different question.
The form that was studied
Breath-actuated pressurised metered-dose inhalation aerosol with dose counter, and nasal aerosol and aqueous nasal spray
✎ Source-linked record
Where this came from
A person wrote this into the record with the study named beside it. No reviewer has signed it off.
The form used in the studies cited on this page.
No source is stored against this line.
What is sold
A recorded note compares this form with the others that are sold. It is kept below, word for word.
§ A fixed RNAWiki sentence
Where this came from
Wording RNAWiki always uses, not a finding about this substance.
The recorded note, unchanged: The current inhaler is a hydrofluoroalkane solution aerosol producing a much finer particle distribution than the chlorofluorocarbon suspensions it replaced, which changed how deep the drug travels and, on the label’s own cortisol data, how much systemic effect a given nominal dose produces.
No source is stored against this line.
What is recorded as being sold
QVAR REDIHALER is respiratory (inhalation) at 3 DOSAGE FORMS AND STRENGTHS Inhalation aerosol: a pressurized, breath‑actuated, metered-dose aerosol with a dose counter in 2 strengths 40 mcg in an aluminum canister contained within a beige plastic actuator and a hin…, recorded as fda label in effect 2024-06-25 in the United States.
US prescribing information · ccd3aaec-4892-40d0-ad60-3e570178fbe1 · read 2026-08-30
Evidence carries across two names for one substance. It does not carry across a salt, a mirror form or a mixture.
What it would be like to take◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
What you could measure
This one is decided with a clinician, so this section holds questions to ask rather than a plan to run.
RNAWiki could not confidently classify this substance, so no self-experiment plan is offered.
Questions worth asking
Which of the trials of Beclometasone studied people like me?
What was measured, and for how long?
Was the result a laboratory value or a health outcome?
What would we watch for, and when would we stop?
Tracking can show whether something changed for you. It cannot show what caused it.
RNAWiki records evidence. It does not say whether this substance is right for you.
What is missing or unclear◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
Claims that go past the evidence
Things said about this substance that sound reasonable, and the exact step that is missing between the evidence and the claim.
✗Goes past the evidence
That a normal cortisol stimulation test excludes a systemic steroid effect — the growth study detected one where the HPA-axis test did not
Why it sounds right. It follows from something real on this page: a body step, an animal result or a related finding.
The missing step. Nobody measured this in people for this use, or the study that did measure it did not show it.
What would change this
A study in people, for this exact use, measuring this exact thing, that a reviewer signs off.
RNAWiki has not yet published a reviewed conclusion for this use.
✗Goes past the evidence
That a nominal microgram dose specifies exposure, when two formulations at similar nominal doses produced measurably different cortisol suppression
Why it sounds right. It follows from something real on this page: a body step, an animal result or a related finding.
The missing step. Nobody measured this in people for this use, or the study that did measure it did not show it.
What would change this
A study in people, for this exact use, measuring this exact thing, that a reviewer signs off.
RNAWiki has not yet published a reviewed conclusion for this use.
✗Goes past the evidence
That an affinity ranking naming "beclomethasone" is unambiguous, when the prodrug and its metabolite differ 25-fold
Why it sounds right. It follows from something real on this page: a body step, an animal result or a related finding.
The missing step. Nobody measured this in people for this use, or the study that did measure it did not show it.
What would change this
A study in people, for this exact use, measuring this exact thing, that a reviewer signs off.
RNAWiki has not yet published a reviewed conclusion for this use.
✗Goes past the evidence
That the intranasal growth finding transfers directly to the inhaled product, which is a different route and a different deposited dose
Why it sounds right. It follows from something real on this page: a body step, an animal result or a related finding.
The missing step. Nobody measured this in people for this use, or the study that did measure it did not show it.
What would change this
A study in people, for this exact use, measuring this exact thing, that a reviewer signs off.
RNAWiki has not yet published a reviewed conclusion for this use.
What is missing or unclear◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
What nobody knows yet
Open questions, each with why it is open and what would close it.
Missing populations
Which groups were under-represented in the studies has not been recorded.
Why it matters. Recorded by the evidence model as a gap on this record.
What would answer it
A study that measures it, and a reviewer to sign it off.
Last checked 2026-09-04. Searched: The sources listed in the receipts at the foot of this page.
Missing long-term data
No completed tested study window is recorded.
Why it matters. Recorded by the evidence model as a gap on this record.
What would answer it
A study that measures it, and a reviewer to sign it off.
Last checked 2026-09-04. Searched: The sources listed in the receipts at the foot of this page.
No reviewed conclusion
RNAWiki has not yet published a reviewed conclusion for this use.
Why it matters. Recorded by the evidence model as a gap on this record.
What would answer it
A study that measures it, and a reviewer to sign it off.
Last checked 2026-09-04. Searched: The sources listed in the receipts at the foot of this page.
Missing interaction studies
No interaction was found in the registers checked. Not finding one is not the same as showing there is none.
Why it matters. Recorded by the evidence model as a gap on this record.
What would answer it
A study that measures it, and a reviewer to sign it off.
Last checked 2026-09-04. Searched: The sources listed in the receipts at the foot of this page.
Formulation uncertainty
Several salts, forms or products of Beclometasone are recorded. Results from one form may not transfer to another.
Why it matters. Recorded by the evidence model as a gap on this record.
What would answer it
A study that measures it, and a reviewer to sign it off.
Last checked 2026-09-04. Searched: The sources listed in the receipts at the foot of this page.
Mechanism not reviewed
No reviewed mechanism story exists for this substance.
Why it matters. Recorded by the evidence model as a gap on this record.
What would answer it
A study that measures it, and a reviewer to sign it off.
Last checked 2026-09-04. Searched: The sources listed in the receipts at the foot of this page.
What happened in people◇Read from sources, not yet reviewed
Check any of this yourself
Every line above traced back to the study it came from. This is the technical layer, and the vocabulary changes here.
Every line above can be traced to the study named beside it. Follow the link and read it.
One year of the nasal spray cost children 0.9 cm, detectable within a month
In plain words
A hundred prepubertal children with year-round hay fever were randomised to intranasal beclometasone or placebo for a year, with height measured seven times. The treated children grew 5.0 cm; the placebo children grew 5.9 cm. The gap was already visible at the first month.
What was measured
Rate of change in standing height over one year against placebo
Effect estimate
No reviewed effect estimate exists for this record.
Limits
This entry records a failure.
From the source
A double-blind, randomised, parallel-group study treated 100 prepubertal children aged 6 to 9 with perennial allergic rhinitis with aqueous beclometasone dipropionate 168 micrograms twice daily (n=51) or placebo (n=49) for one year, with baseline height between the 5th and 95th percentile and skeletal age within two years of chronological age. Ninety completed. The primary safety parameter was the rate of change in standing height, analysed as the slope of a linear regression per subject. Overall growth rate was significantly slower on beclometasone in both the intention-to-treat and completer analyses; mean change in standing height at one year was 5.0 cm against 5.9 cm. The difference was evident by the one-month visit, was consistent across age and sex subgroups and across children with and without prior corticosteroid use, and survived a z-score normalisation against national height data that ruled out a baseline imbalance as the explanation. No significant between-group difference was found in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis assessments.
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim
A matched trial of another nasal steroid published alongside it found nothing
In plain words
The same journal issue carried an almost identical study of intranasal mometasone in 98 children, and it found no growth suppression at all. Two intranasal steroids, two matched designs, two opposite answers — which is why they cannot be treated as interchangeable.
What was measured
Change in standing height over one year in a matched-design study of a different intranasal corticosteroid
Effect estimate
No reviewed effect estimate exists for this record.
Limits
See the technical detail.
From the source
Schenkel and colleagues randomised 98 prepubertal children aged 3 to 9 with perennial allergic rhinitis to mometasone furoate aqueous nasal spray 100 micrograms once daily or placebo for one year, with the same entry criteria on height percentile and skeletal age. Eighty-two completed. Change in height at one year was 6.95 cm on mometasone against 6.35 cm on placebo, growth rate averaged 0.018 cm per day in both groups, and cosyntropin stimulation testing at baseline, 26 and 52 weeks showed no HPA-axis suppression. The two studies together are the strongest available demonstration that systemic exposure differs between intranasal corticosteroids, and they also demonstrate that the design used is capable of detecting a difference — which is what makes the negative one credible.
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim
At the top licensed inhaled dose, cortisol production falls by more than a third
In plain words
The label reports the measurement directly. Forty steroid-naive patients were studied, and the highest recommended dose of the inhaler reduced the body’s own twenty-four-hour cortisol output by 37.3%. Even the lowest dose studied reduced it by 12.2%.
What was measured
Percentage reduction in 24-hour urinary free cortisol by inhaled dose, and short cosyntropin response after one year
Effect estimate
No reviewed effect estimate exists for this record.
Limits
This entry records a failure.
From the source
The effects on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis were studied in 40 corticosteroid-naive patients, comparing QVAR MDI at 80, 160 or 320 micrograms twice daily with placebo and with 336 micrograms twice daily of CFC-formulated beclometasone dipropionate. Active treatment groups showed an expected dose-related reduction in 24-hour urinary free cortisol. At the highest recommended dose, 320 micrograms twice daily, the reduction was 37.3%, against 47.3% for CFC-BDP at 336 micrograms twice daily; 160 micrograms twice daily gave 24.6% and 80 micrograms twice daily gave 12.2%. A separate open-label study of 354 asthma patients treated at recommended doses for one year found that fewer than 1% had an abnormal response, defined as a peak below 18 micrograms per decilitre, to a short cosyntropin test. A dose-related fall in cortisol output at every studied dose, and a normal cosyntropin response in more than 99% of patients, are both true at once and describe different sensitivities of measurement.
Source
QVAR REDIHALER (beclometasone dipropionate) United States prescribing information, Clinical Pharmacology 12.2 Pharmacodynamics
Role in the trial
Not matched to a registered study
Identity check
no open identity hold
Audit mark
caution
Review state
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim
The molecule in the canister is 25 times less active than the one that works
In plain words
Beclometasone dipropionate is a prodrug. Its own label reports that the metabolite it turns into binds the receptor twenty-five times more tightly than it does — and then says nobody knows what the affinity numbers mean clinically.
What was measured
That a receptor-affinity ranking naming "beclomethasone" specifies a single potency — the administered diester and its active monoester differ 25-fold, and comparisons must name which one they mean
Effect estimate
No reviewed effect estimate exists for this record.
Limits
See the technical detail.
From the source
The label states that beclometasone dipropionate is a prodrug rapidly activated by hydrolysis to the active monoester beclometasone-17-monopropionate, and that 17-BMP has been shown in vitro to bind the human glucocorticoid receptor with an affinity approximately 13 times that of dexamethasone, 6 times that of triamcinolone acetonide, 1.5 times that of budesonide and 25 times that of beclometasone dipropionate — followed by the statement that the clinical significance of these findings is unknown. The consequence is that any potency comparison against this drug depends on whether the parent or the metabolite is being compared, and the two differ by more than an order of magnitude. The fluticasone label, for example, compares itself to beclometasone-17-monopropionate rather than to beclometasone dipropionate, which is the right comparison and is easy to misread as a comparison against the marketed product.
Source
QVAR REDIHALER United States prescribing information, Clinical Pharmacology 12.1; FLOVENT HFA United States prescribing information, Clinical Pharmacology 12.1
Role in the trial
Not matched to a registered study
Identity check
no open identity hold
Audit mark
caution
Review state
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim
Changing the propellant changed the drug, and the label’s own numbers show it
In plain words
When CFC propellants were banned, this inhaler was reformulated. The new version produces much finer particles that travel deeper into the lung, so the same number of micrograms is no longer the same dose. The label compares them directly: 320 micrograms twice daily of the new formulation suppressed cortisol less than 336 micrograms twice daily of the old one.
What was measured
That "beclometasone 400 micrograms a day" names a defined exposure — it names a nominal canister dose, and the label’s own comparison shows two formulations at similar nominal doses producing different systemic effects
Effect estimate
No reviewed effect estimate exists for this record.
Limits
See the technical detail.
From the source
The original beclometasone dipropionate metered-dose inhalers were chlorofluorocarbon-propelled suspensions. The current product is a hydrofluoroalkane solution aerosol, which produces a substantially finer aerosol and therefore a different distribution between oropharynx, large airways and small airways. The pharmacodynamic study in the label compares the two head to head on the most sensitive available systemic marker: 24-hour urinary free cortisol fell 37.3% on 320 micrograms twice daily of the HFA product against 47.3% on 336 micrograms twice daily of CFC-BDP. A near-identical microgram dose produced a measurably different systemic effect. That is the clearest demonstration in this file that for an inhaled drug, the number on the canister is a property of the product rather than of the molecule, and that dose-equivalence tables written for one formulation do not transfer to another.
Source
QVAR REDIHALER United States prescribing information, Clinical Pharmacology 12.2 and Description 11
Role in the trial
Not matched to a registered study
Identity check
no open identity hold
Audit mark
verified
Review state
Written into the record, not signed off as a reviewed claim
BEST: a steroid taken only when needed matched one taken twice daily
In plain words
In 455 people with mild asthma, using a combined steroid-and-reliever inhaler only when symptoms occurred worked as well over six months as taking the steroid twice a day every day — and delivered a much smaller total amount of steroid.
What was measured
Morning peak expiratory flow, exacerbation count and cumulative inhaled corticosteroid dose over six months across four regimens
Effect estimate
No reviewed effect estimate exists for this record.
Limits
See the technical detail.
From the source
A six-month double-blind, double-dummy, randomised, parallel-group trial assigned 455 patients with mild asthma, mean FEV1 2.96 L or 88.36% predicted, to one of four regimens after a four-week run-in: as-needed beclometasone 250 micrograms plus albuterol 100 micrograms in a single inhaler; as-needed albuterol 100 micrograms alone; regular beclometasone 250 micrograms twice daily with as-needed albuterol; or regular combination twice daily with as-needed albuterol. The primary outcome was morning peak expiratory flow. In the final two weeks, morning peak flow was higher in the as-needed combination group than in the as-needed albuterol group (P=0.04) and exacerbations over six months were fewer (P=0.002), while values in the as-needed combination group did not differ significantly from either regular-treatment group. The cumulative six-month dose of inhaled beclometasone was lower in the as-needed combination group than in either regular group (P<0.001 for both). This is the direct ancestor of the as-needed anti-inflammatory reliever strategy now built around budesonide-formoterol.
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What is not here
8 questions this page could not answer
These sections were prepared and left out because there was nothing to put in them. They are listed rather than hidden, so the gaps in this record are visible.
What was measured, goal by goal — found nothing in the sources checked.
How close this is to real life — found nothing in the sources checked.
Felt, measured, or meaningful — found nothing in the sources checked.
How long anything takes — found nothing in the sources checked.
What it may clash with — found nothing in the sources checked.
Other ways to the same goal — found nothing in the sources checked.
How this medicine reached us — found nothing in the sources checked.
What changed on this page — found nothing in the sources checked.
The record as stored
The full record, for auditing
Everything above is built from what is below. This layer keeps the technical vocabulary, record identifiers and every stored row, so a reader who wants to check the page can.
The older medicine-wide conclusion held in this record
Written for a clinical reader, and about the medicine as a whole rather than about one indication, population and set of trials. RNAWiki does not treat it as a programme conclusion and no reviewer has signed it off in that form. It is here word for word because it is what the record holds.
A corticosteroid diester that is a prodrug, hydrolysed to beclometasone-17-monopropionate which binds the glucocorticoid receptor about 13 times as tightly as dexamethasone and 25 times as tightly as the dose that was inhaled; at the highest recommended inhaled dose it reduced 24-hour urinary free cortisol by 37.3%, and a year of the nasal spray in 100 children produced 5.0 cm of growth against 5.9 cm on placebo.
Recorded evidence blocks (10)
Q1
On the Beclometasone label: indicated for what?
"1. INDICATIONS AND USAGE QNASL Nasal Aerosol is a corticosteroid indicated for the treatment of nasal symptoms associated with seasonal and perennial allergic rhinitis in patients 4 years of age and older.": indications and usage on Beclometasone's label. DailyMed label · 4b8d8e84-b5d2-4e56-97ec-4f72971465c5 · 2022-09-27
Q2
64 registered trials of Beclometasone — at which phases?
"Study not initiated due to funding."; 5 of 64 registered studies
Show the evidence
Trial
NCT00532584
withdrawn; "Study not initiated due to funding."
NCT00826748
terminated; "Funding"
NCT00962299
terminated; "recruitment was unsuccesfull, only 7 patient have been included untill 2012"
NCT02319564
withdrawn; "Study population too narrow - unable to recruit any patients."
NCT02687100
withdrawn; "Due to instillation site of the cortisone and the development of the related SARS-Cov2 infection, it was preferred to terminate the trial and develop it again without beclomethasone"
recorded 2026-09-01 · last checked 2026-09-04
Q4
Human studies of Beclometasone used Reference product 2 (R2): BDP HFA (QVAR REDIHALER®, BDP 80 μg) — over how long?
Human studies of Beclometasone used "Reference product 2 (R2): BDP HFA (QVAR REDIHALER®, BDP 80 μg)". ClinicalTrials.gov · 2026-09-01
2.8 hours; The mean elimination half-life of beclomethasone-17-monopropionate is 2.8 hours.
bioavailabilitypharmacokinetics
27.5 %; The results of this trial demonstrated that the systemic bioavailability of QNASL Nasal Aerosol 320 mcg was approximately 27.5% (approximately 4-fold lower) of that of orally inhaled beclomethasone dipropionate HFA 320 mcg/day based on the plasma concentrations of beclomethasone-17-monopropionate (AUC last : 1139.7 vs 4140.3 hr*pg/mL;
metabolismpharmacokinetics
Metabolism Beclomethasone dipropionate undergoes extensive first-pass metabolism, forming three metabolites via CYP3A4, beclomethasone-17-monopropionate, beclomethasone-21-monopropionate, and beclomethasone.
recorded 2022-09-27 · last checked 2026-09-04
Q6
Which 26 trials of Beclometasone posted no result?
Posted no result
26 of 26 completed trials
Registrations
NCT00000576, NCT00000578, NCT00010283, NCT00382889, NCT00233896 and NCT00043147, and 20 more
Completion dates
oldest 1999-04; newest 2023-07-14
Show the evidence
Trial
NCT00000576
1999-04
NCT00000578
2000-10
NCT00010283
2002-07
NCT00382889
2004-09
NCT00233896
2004-12
NCT00043147
2005-01
14 further recorded trials
NCT00115089
2005-09
NCT00055666
2006-04
NCT00094016
2006-06-30
NCT00109668
2006-09-30
NCT00497523
2007-01
NCT00119496
2007-06
NCT01113489
2010-07
NCT01141439
2010-07
NCT01333800
2010-12
NCT02133053
2011-07
NCT01475032
2012-09
NCT01016223
2012-10
NCT01265342
2012-10
NCT01632540
2014-02
Q7
At the median, Beclometasone's trials enrolled 103 people — anything larger?
Median enrolment
103
Largest enrolment
815377
Registered trials counted
60
Q8
What do 1204 spontaneous reports say about Beclometasone — and not say?
These are reports people sent to a regulator. They do not show the medicine caused the reaction. Nobody counted how many people took the medicine and reported nothing. The same event can be reported more than once, and many reports are incomplete. News coverage, lawsuits and new warnings change how often people report. A count is not a rate and not a risk.
Beclometasone appears in spontaneous reports to regulators. Across the 10 most-reported reaction terms, 1204 reaction mentions were counted: asthma 315; dyspnoea 187; wheezing 142; cough 109. FAERS via Open Targets · CHEMBL1200500 · 2026-06-24
Show the evidence
asthma
315
dyspnoea
187
wheezing
142
cough
109
vomiting
106
drug hypersensitivity
101
4 more recorded rows
pneumonia
92
oedema
71
chest discomfort
42
nasal discomfort
39
recorded 2026-06-24 · last checked 2026-09-04
Q9
Which 10 reactions does Beclometasone's label not list?
ChEMBL 37 — CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported · ChEMBL ATC CC BY-SA · ClinicalTrials.gov — US Government work · Open Targets 26.06 — CC0 · mixed register set; per-register licences in docs/specs/corpus-20k-sources.md · openFDA / DailyMed — US Government work
✗ required summary fields resolved: 4 required field(s) not terminal: Why people use it, Best-supported result, Biggest unanswered question, Human evidence
✓ public claims reviewed: 0 reviewed claim(s); drafts are never rendered
✓ source coverage passed: 6 source rows
✓ no critical contamination: no quarantine open
✓ canonical metadata passed: slug and display name present
✓ no raw internal fields: enforced by the copy-contract test over the rendered page
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