Patients controlled on benralizumab can taper inhaled corticosteroids, while maintaining asthma control<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter<\/b><\/p>\n
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WEDNESDAY, Jan. 10, 2024 (HealthDay News) — For patients with severe eosinophilic asthma controlled on benralizumab, tapering of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) is feasible and is not associated with worse asthma control, according to a study published online Dec. 7 in The Lancet<\/em>.<\/p>\n David J. Jackson, M.P.H., from King’s College London, and colleagues conducted a phase 4 study involving adults with severe eosinophilic asthma and a five-item Asthma Control Questionnaire score less than 1.5 and who received at least three consecutive doses of benralizumab before screening. Participants were randomly assigned to taper their high-dose ICS to a medium-dose, low-dose, and as-needed dose (reduction group) or to continue therapy for 32 weeks, followed by 16 weeks of maintenance.<\/p>\n Overall, 168 patients were assigned to the reduction and reference arms (125 and 43, respectively). Ninety-two percent of the 110 patients reduced their ICS-formoterol dose: 15, 17, and 61 percent to medium-dose, low-dose, and as-needed only, respectively. The researchers found that in 96 percent of the patients, the reductions were maintained to week 48; in the tapering group, 91 percent had zero exacerbations during tapering. The rates of adverse events were similar between the groups: 73 and 83 percent in the reduction and reference groups, respectively. A total of 17 patients had serious adverse events: 10 and 12 percent in the reduction and reference groups, respectively. There were no deaths reported.<\/p>\n “Our key finding is that 92 percent of patients were able to successfully reduce their high-dose ICS, with more than 60 percent reducing to anti-inflammatory reliever only without a change in asthma control,” the authors write.<\/p>\n Several authors disclosed ties to pharmaceutical companies, including AstraZeneca, which manufactures benralizumab and funded the study.<\/p>\n