Tezepelumab improves lung function in severe asthma

In the treatment of patients with severe, uncontrolled asthma, use of tezepelumab appears to produce rapid and sustained improvements in lung function, as reported in a study.

Researchers conducted a secondary analysis of the phase III NAVIGATOR trial to examine the effect of tezepelumab on morning and evening peak expiratory flow (PEF). The study population included 1,059 patients aged 12–80 years with severe, uncontrolled asthma, including those with baseline blood eosinophil counts <300 cells/µL.

Of the patients, 528 were randomized to receive tezepelumab 210 mg and 531 to placebo. Treatment was administered subcutaneously every 4 weeks for 52 weeks. The patients were also receiving medium- or high-dose inhaled corticosteroids and at least one additional controller medication with or without oral corticosteroids.

At baseline, the weekly mean morning PEF was 261.7 L/min in the active treatment group and 262.5 L/min in the placebo group. Meanwhile, the weekly mean evening PEF was 276.9 and 278.2 L/min, respectively.

Over 52 weeks, patients on tezepelumab showed greater improvements in weekly mean morning and evening PEF compared with those on placebo. For weekly mean morning PEF, the mean treatment difference was 7.4 L/min (95 percent confidence interval [CI], 3.4–11.4) at week 1, 13.9 L/min (95 percent CI, 9.2–18.7) at week 2, 16.6 L/min (95 percent CI, 8.9–24.3) at week 26, and 16.6 L/min (95 percent CI, 8.1–25.1) at week 52.

For weekly mean evening PEF, the mean treatment difference was 5.4 L/min (95 percent CI, 1.7–9.2) at week 1, 12.5 L/min (95 percent CI, 7.7–17.2) at week 2, 16.4 L/min (95 percent CI, 8.7–24.2) at week 26, and 14.9 L/min (95 percent CI, 6.3–23.4) at week 52.