Injectable asthma treatment hailed as 'game-changer'. Here's why: National

AstraZeneca's Fasenra, an injectable treatment for severe asthma, is more effective during attacks than the oral steroids that have been the standard treatment for 50 years, reducing the need for further treatment by 30%, a study published on Wednesday showed.

The antibody drug chemically known as benralizumab was approved by U.S. and European regulators in 2017 as a treatment for a severe form of the breathing disorder called eosinophilic asthma, which targets a type of white blood cell associated with pneumonia.

The new study, led by researchers at King's College London, involved 158 British patients who were at high risk of an attack of asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

The researchers found that Fasenra may be more effective than the oral corticosteroid prednisolone when injected during an attack, also called an exacerbation, which can cause symptoms such as wheezing, coughing and chest tightness. Steroids such as prednisolone can reduce inflammation in the lungs, but can also cause serious side effects.

The exacerbations account for 30% of COPD flare-ups and almost half of all asthma attacks, and may become more common as the disease progresses.

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Many patients who suffer these attacks require repeated courses of steroids, need to be readmitted to the hospital or die within 90 days, the researchers said.

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The study found that after 28 days of treatment, respiratory symptoms were better with benralizumab. After 90 days, there were four times fewer people in the AstraZeneca drug group who failed treatment compared with standard treatment with prednisolone.

The findings show that the AstraZeneca drug could also be used during the emergency of a life-threatening attack, in a hospital or possibly even at home, to reduce the need for further treatment and hospital admissions, researchers said.

“This could be a gamechanger for people with asthma and COPD,” Professor Mona Bafadhel of King's College London, who led the trial, said in a statement.

Asthma and COPD exacerbations cause nearly four million deaths worldwide each year, but treatment for the chronic conditions has not changed in 50 years, she noted.

Fasenra is AstraZeneca's second best-selling drug from its respiratory and immunology portfolio. It delivered $436 million in revenue in the third quarter, up 13% from a year earlier.

The study was sponsored by the University of Oxford and the research was funded by the Anglo-Swedish drug manufacturer. The findings were published in the journal The Lancet Respiratory Medicine.