Cromoglicic acid requires administration four times daily, and does not provide additive benefit in combination with inhaled corticosteroids.

Altounyan deliberately inhaled derivatives of the active ingredient khellin to determine if they could block his asthma attacks.

After several years of trial, he isolated an effective and safe asthma-preventing compound called cromolyn sodium.

[9] Pharmaceutical companies have produced 20 related compounds that are equally or more potent at stabilising mast cells and none of them have shown any anti-asthmatic effect.

Cromolyn is also being tested as a drug to treat insulin-induced lipoatrophy[12][13] and Alzheimer's disease in combination with Ibuprofen.