Therapy Benefits People With Type 2 Asthma Regardless of Inhaled Corticosteroid Dose

Dupilumab treatment demonstrated sustained efficacy for up to 3 years in patients with uncontrolled, moderate-to-severe type 2 asthma requiring high- or medium-dose inhaled corticosteroids at baseline, according to study findings published in Allergy.

“Dupilumab, a human monoclonal antibody, blocks the shared receptor component for interleukins-4/13, key and central drivers of type 2 inflammation,” researchers explained in the study background. “The TRAVERSE (NCT02134028) open-label extension study demonstrated the long-term safety and efficacy of dupilumab in patients ≥12 years who completed a previous dupilumab asthma study.”

This analysis of TRAVERSE focused on dupilumab’s efficacy specifically in patients on high- or medium-dose inhaled corticosteroids at parent study baseline.

Among participants with type 2 asthma, 891 patients were receiving high-dose ICS at parent study baseline. Unadjusted exacerbation rates in the subgroup over 52 weeks were 0.517 with dupilumab and 1.883 with placebo in a phase 2b parent study and 0.571 versus 1.300 in a phase 3 parent study, according to the analysis.

Throughout TRAVERSE, exacerbation rates in the subgroup remained low, and improvements in lung function and asthma control were sustained, the study showed. Dupilumab demonstrated comparable long-term efficacy in patients receiving medium-dose inhaled corticosteroids at parent study baseline.

“We observed similar efficacy with dupilumab treatment regardless of the dose of inhaled corticosteroids that patients were using at parent study baseline, indicating that dupilumab is equally efficacious regardless of background inhaled corticosteroid dose, and across patients with both moderate or severe uncontrolled asthma,” researchers wrote. “Patients with moderate uncontrolled asthma receive minimal benefit from increasing to high-dose inhaled corticosteroids, and this analysis shows that a clear sustained benefit is seen with long-term dupilumab use.”

Reference:
Pavord ID, Bourdin A, Papi A, et al. Dupilumab sustains efficacy in patients with moderate-to-severe type 2 asthma regardless of ICS dose. Allergy. Published online July 11, 2023. doi:10.1111/all.15792