A clinical trial has found that a monthly injection of tezepelumab could allow people with severe asthma to reduce or stop taking daily steroid tablets. The drug, also known as Tezspire and manufactured by AstraZeneca, works by blocking a protein linked to airway inflammation.
The Wayfinder trial, led by King's College London, involved nearly 300 adults with severe, uncontrolled asthma from 11 countries, including the UK, US, France, Germany, Mexico, and Spain. Participants were receiving daily doses of 5mg to 40mg of oral corticosteroids and were given tezepelumab every four weeks.
After one year of treatment, more than half of the participants had stopped taking steroids entirely without their asthma flaring up, and nearly 90% had reduced their steroid use to a low dose. A third had stopped taking steroids after six months. The findings, published in the Lancet Respiratory Medicine and presented at the British Thoracic Society winter meeting, also showed significant improvements in asthma symptoms, lung function, and quality of life, with two-thirds of patients experiencing no asthma attacks during the study.
Lead author Prof David Jackson, a respiratory medicine expert at King's College London, said: 'As tezepelumab also suppresses allergy-related symptoms and improves chronic rhinosinusitis as well, the results are particularly exciting for patients with severe asthma who suffer with both upper and lower airway symptoms.' Dr Samantha Walker of Asthma + Lung UK called it 'an incredibly encouraging development' that could transform lives, while Prof Kamila Hawthorne of the Royal College of GPs welcomed the prospect of a monthly injection as a more manageable treatment option.
