Tezepelumab Reduces Asthma Exacerbations in Patients with Severe, Uncontrolled Asthma

The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) released promising new data on tezepelumab stating that adults and adolescents with severe, uncontrolled asthma who were treated with the monoclonal antibody experienced fewer asthma exacerbations throughout all seasons of the year compared to placebo.

Tezepelumab was approved late last year by the Food and Drug Administration as an injection and add-on maintenance treatment to improve severe asthma symptoms when used with a patient’s current asthma medicine. It is the first treatment for severe asthma without biomarker or phenotype limitations.

The newest data on the monoclonal antibody came from a multi-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study called NAVIGATOR.

The NAVIGATOR study included a total of 1059 patients. Patients between the ages of 12 and 80 years were randomized 1:1 to receive either tezepelumab (528) or placebo (531) subcutaneously every 4 weeks over the course of 52 weeks.

Investigators then examined the annualized asthma exacerbation rate (AAER) as well as a number of patients without exacerbations on a seasonal basis.

When compared to placebo, tezepelumab reduced the AAER by 63% in winter, 46% in spring, 62% in summer and 54% in fall. Additionally, patients who took tezepelumab had fewer asthma exacerbations in winter (81.7% vs 66.6%), spring (84.3% vs 76.3%), summer (86.8% vs 73.1%) and fall (79.4% vs 66.6%).

For consistency, data from patients in the Southern Hemisphere was altered to align with Northern Hemisphere seasons.

Additional data on the study will be presented at the 2022 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.