Patients with asthma who were treated with the monoclonal antibody benralizumab showed a significant reduction in asthma exacerbations, according to new results presented at the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Annual Scientific Meeting. 

The research findings were from the retrospective cohort ZEPHYR 2 study which used a large US insurance claims database. 

While benralizumab has previously demonstrated efficacy for the treatment of asthma exacerbations in multiple clinical trials and observational studies, the researchers set out to expand on these findings by studying the effectiveness of benralizumab on asthma exacerbations in a real-world setting.

The researchers evaluated asthma exacerbation reduction in multiple cohorts including patients with blood eosinophil measures available pre-benralizumab initiation (index), stratified at 150 cells/mL and 300 cells/mL thresholds, and in patients who switched from omalizumab or mepolizumab to benralizumab. 

Patients included in the study were 12 years or older, with at least two records of benralizumab and two asthma exacerbations pre-index. 

Researchers described and compared asthma exacerbation rates were described and compared 1 year pre- and post-index. 

A total of 429 patients were included in the eosinophil analysis (114 patients with <150 cells/mL, 315 patients with ≥150 cells/mL, 194 patients with <300 cells/mL, and 235 patients with ≥300 cells/mL). 

A switch analysis was conducted and included 205 patients who used omalizumab pre-index and 144 patients who used mepolizumab pre-index.

The mean age range was 50.1-54.7 years, across all patient-sets and most patients were female (64.7%-76.3%). 

According to the study results, all groups experienced a significant reduction in asthma exacerbations post-index vs. pre-index (eosinophil <150 cells/ml: 52% reduction; eosinophil ≥150 cells/ml: 64%; eosinophil <300 cells/ml: 56%; eosinophil ≥300 cells/ml: 64%; omalizumab pre- index: 62%; mepolizumab pre-index: 53%; all P < 0.001). 

According to the study, significant reductions in asthma exacerbations were observed with benralizumab use in patients with varying blood eosinophil levels and patients who switched from omalizumab or mepolizumab.

Disclosure: MD /alert was unable to confirm author disclosures.