HEALTH : Infant Respiratory Drug OKd

The Food and Drug Administration today approved a drug, Exosurf Neonatal, that could help save thousands of premature infants born with immature lungs.

The drug, a powder mixed with sterile water, substitutes for a naturally occurring foam that coats the inside of the lungs and keeps them from collapsing when the infant exhales.

The infants receive the drug through a tube into their windpipes. They must be on a mechanical ventilator to receive it.

About 250,000 infants are born prematurely each year in the United States. One-fifth of them have respiratory distress syndrome, or breathing difficulties, resulting from immature lungs. The problem is fatal in about 5,000 cases a year.

That makes respiratory distress syndrome the leading cause of death and disability among premature infants, the FDA said.