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In a trial lasting six months disodium cromoglycate (800 mg daily), sulphasalazine (2 g daily), and these two agents in combination were compared in 120 patients as maintenance treatment for ulcerative colitis. Relapse was defined as recurrence of colitic symptoms accompanied by sigmoidoscopic evidence of inflammation. The patients receiving disodium cromoglycate had a much higher relapse-rate than those taking sulphasalazine and the results with the two agents combined were little different from those with sulphasalazine alone. Disodium cromoglycate in the dose employed is greatly inferior to sulphasalazine as maintenance treatment for the prevention of relapse in ulcerative colitis.

A double-blind cross-over sequential trial of a new antiallergic compound, disodium cromoglycate (' FPL670 ', ' Intal ') was carried out over a period of 6 weeks in ten patients severely disabled with allergic bronchial asthma. There was a significant clinical improvement during administration of FPL670 plus isoprenaline in all patients compared with two periods in which isoprenaline alone was given. Spirometric improvement occurred in only four patients. Subsequent experience over periods up to 26 months with these and other patients has confirmed the therapeutic value and safety of FPL670 in the management of allergic bronchial asthma.

Twelve patients with ulcerative protocolitis were treated for six months with each of oral disodium cromoglycate (2 g/day) and placebo in a double-blind cross-over trial. The active drug significantly improved the patients' sense of well-being and the signoidoscopic and rectal biopsy appearances. Orally administered disodium cromoglycate may have a place in the long-term management of colitis.

A double-blind cross-over trial of disodium cromoglycate was undertaken in 28 patients with asthma. This differed from previous trials in that isoprenaline was not included in the active or in the placebo capsules. 10 of the 28 patients improved clinically whilst on cromoglycate. F.E.V. 1·0 , dyspnœa on exertion, and disturbance of sleep were all improved by cromoglycate.

Insufflation of disodium cromoglycate was compared with placebo insufflation in the prophylaxis of seasonal allergic rhinitis. The results of a double-blind trial in 27 patients suggest that insufflation of 10 mg. disodium cromoglycate into each nostril four times a day readily controls the symptoms of allergic rhinitis and considerably reduces the need for antihistamine therapy. The treatment is easy and well tolerated. No side-effects were noted in this trial.

Four infants who were intolerant to milk protein and had positive Prausnitz-Kustner reactions to β-lactoglobulin were given disodium cromoglycate by mouth and rechallenged with a lactose-free milk. No reactions occurred. When treatment was stopped one patient relapsed while the others continued to take cow's milk.

Bronchial reactivity was measured in twenty-five symptom-free asthmatic patients as the percentage fall in forced expiratory volume in 1 second after inhaled methacholine. The degree of bronchial reactivity was found to remain significantly constant on serial examination over several weeks in the same patients. It does not seem to be related to sex, age, type of asthma, menstrual cycle, initial level of airways obstruction, treatment with corticosteroids, or prophylactic inhalation of disodium cromoglycate.