The injection, which contains the drug tezipilumab (commercially known as Tezpir, produced by AstraZeneca), works by binding to a protein that causes airway inflammation and preventing it from triggering further inflammation, thus limiting the worsening of symptoms.
The injection is recommended as an adjunctive treatment for patients over the age of 12 when standard treatments do not show sufficient effectiveness.
The importance of this development stems from the fact that patients with severe asthma usually rely on daily steroid tablets, despite the long-term side effects they cause, including mood swings, digestive disorders, and weight gain, in addition to risks such as steroid-related diabetes and osteoporosis.
King's College London conducted a large-scale trial involving nearly 300 patients with severe, uncontrolled asthma who were taking daily doses of steroids ranging from 5 to 40 mg. The trial attracted participants from 11 countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Germany, Mexico, and Spain.
The results showed that 90% of patients treated with tezipilumab were able to reduce their daily steroid doses, with more than half successfully discontinuing them completely after 12 months of treatment. Asthma attacks ceased in two-thirds of participants after just two weeks, and this improvement continued throughout the year-long study.
Professor David Jackson, a respiratory medicine expert at King's College London, said the study represents "an important step forward for patients who need daily oral steroids to control the disease, as the biological treatment 'tezipilumab' has been able to reduce the majority of patients' dependence on steroids, with more than half of them able to stop taking them altogether."
He noted that the drug also shows effectiveness in relieving allergy symptoms and improving chronic sinusitis, making it a promising treatment option for patients with severe asthma.
Dr. Samantha Walker, Director of Research and Innovation at Asthma and Lung UK, described the trial results as a "significant development," emphasizing the importance of supporting lung disease research, which remains underfunded. She added that the study highlights the transformative impact that therapeutic innovations can have on patients' lives.
The results of the trial were published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal and will be presented at the British Thoracic Society's Winter Meeting 2025.
