Drugs available to treat asthma have improved considerably over the past three decades and unders tanding of the disease process is continually improving. However, the incidence of asthma is increasing and the cause(s) of this increase are not yet identified. Asthma is often underdiagnosed and under treated. Poor compliance with medication is also an important consideration in how effective management strategies can be. The aim of current asthma treatment, according to the Global initiative for Asthma (GINA), is to control the disease. However, two surveys, one in Europe and the other in the U.S.A. indicate that the objectives of treatment guidelines are not being met. Patients were shown to experience high rates of exacer bations and require many doses of reliever medication. There was also a large difference between patient and physician perceptions of treatment—this needs to be countered by improved education for both the general public and healthcare professionals. Formoterol, which is the only β₂-agonist to possess both fast- and longacting properties, may help to improve patient compliance by allowing a single inhaler to be used for both maintenance and as-needed therapy. However, although formoterol is already widely used as maintenance therapy, current treatment guidelines do not include the use of formoterol as first-line reliever medication. Evidence is increasing to support as-needed use and a large, randomized effectiveness study in 18 000 patients across the world is ongoing to assess the safety and efficacy of formoterol as needed in a real-life setting. The results from the Real-Life Effectiveness of xis® Turbuhaler® (RELIEF) study should help to establish the position of formoterol as an effective first-line reliever medication and ultimately lead to the inclusion of formoterol as needed in treatment guidelines.