AstraZeneca will present new clinical and real-world data across its leading inhaled, biologic and early science respiratory portfolio at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) International Congress 2023, in Milan, Italy from 9-13 September 2023. The company will present 93 abstracts, including 18 oral presentations, which will focus on unmet needs in severe asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and other acute respiratory diseases.
Ruud Dobber, Executive Vice President, BioPharmaceuticals Business Unit, AstraZeneca, said: “Unlike many other immune-mediated diseases, remission is not a well-established treatment goal in asthma. Key data presented at ERS investigate Fasenra’s and Tezspire’s potential to achieve remission in asthma, elevating care and further improving patient lives. Across our data we will showcase the significant steps we’ve made towards transforming care in asthma, COPD and other respiratory diseases.”
The definition of clinical remission as a treatment goal in severe asthma generally includes the following criteria: no exacerbations, no maintenance oral corticosteroid use, stable lung function and sustained absence of significant asthma symptoms.1
Advancing the science for Fasenra (benralizumab), a leading biologic for the treatment of severe eosinophilic asthma (SEA)2
- SHAMAL Phase IV trial: the late-breaking presentation is the first-ever trial to investigate the potential of a targeted biologic treatment to enable a significant step down of inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) therapy in severe asthma patients.3
- BORA Phase III extension trial and real-world XALOC programme: separate analyses will support clinical remission as an achievable and sustainable goal for patients with SEA over two years of treatment with Fasenra.4,5
- MIRACLE Phase III trial: late-breaking data will evaluate the efficacy and safety of Fasenra among patients with uncontrolled SEA in China and other Asian countries, where the condition is largely underdiagnosed and undertreated.6,7 High-level results from the trial demonstrated a clinically and statistically significant reduction in asthma exacerbation rate.8
Demonstrating Tezspire’s (tezepelumab) potential to deliver sustained remission in a broad severe asthma patient population
- DESTINATION Phase III post-hoc exploratory analysis: the analysis shows Tezspire’s ability to deliver sustained remission vs. placebo over a two-year period in a broad patient population with no phenotype or biomarker limitations.9
- Off treatment DESTINATION Phase III extension: this analysis demonstrates that the sustained effects of Tezspire gradually decrease after stopping treatment with neither the biomarkers nor the clinical effects returning to baseline after nine months since last dose. The results show the importance of long-term use of Tezspire.10
Highlighting the urgency to prevent COPD exacerbations with new real-world data on cardiopulmonary risk
- EXACOS-CV multi-country retrospective cohort study: new real-world data from over 300,000 patients with COPD demonstrate that patients who experienced an exacerbation had an increased risk of serious cardiovascular events in the first six months, and this risk remained elevated for one year.11 These data highlight the importance of preventing COPD exacerbations to reduce cardiopulmonary risk and mortality.12
Early pipeline scientific advancements
- Cytokine, interleukin-33 (IL-33) research: new efficacy and safety results from the ACCORD-2 Phase IIa trial will add to the growing evidence for tozorakimab, an IL-33 neutralising monoclonal antibody, as a potential treatment option for patients hospitalised with COVID-19.13,14
- Exploratory research will be shared demonstrating the potential of a new platform to investigate IL-33 biology and screen novel therapies.15
- Early COPD research: new approaches to identify biological drivers of early COPD disease to improve earlier diagnosis.16
Key AstraZeneca presentations during ERS 2023: .
