AstraZeneca’s and Amgen’s Tezepelumab Slashes Severe Asthma Attacks

AstraZeneca’s and Amgen’s biologic drug tezepelumab reduced the rate of asthma attacks by 56 percent among patients with severe and uncontrolled forms of the condition, according to their phase 3 trial results.

Tezepelumab works by blocking the action of thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP), an immune protein in the lining of the lungs that plays a key role in asthma inflammation, as well as helping to alert the body’s immune system that it needs to react to a threat.

The drug, in a year-long late-stage trial with 1,000 patients, also worked well for patients suffering from low levels of eosinophils, a type of white blood cell associated with swelling and narrowing of airways that could worsen asthma attacks.

Tezepelumab improved lung function in patients, helped control asthma better and cut the risk of hospitalizations or emergency visits by 79 percent, trial data showed.