Millions of asthma patients could see their lives transformed within three years by a ‘game-changing’ new treatment, UK scientists have said.
Test studies found that an antibody injection was significantly more effective at stopping attacks than current steroid treatments, given to patients when blue ‘response’ inhalers are insufficient.
Known as Benralizumab, it reduced the need for further treatment in those having serious asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) attacks by almost a third (30 per cent).
Experts say the treatment – which could be given at home or in GP surgeries at the point of attack – could slash hospital admissions as well as reduce the four asthma and 85 COPD deaths every day in the UK.
They estimate the treatment, which targets specific white blood cells to reduce lung inflammation, could be rolled out in the next two to three years if larger, planned trials are successful.
Led by King’s College London, the trial involved 158 people needing A&E treatment for an attack at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.
They were given a quick blood test to see they were having an ‘eosinophilic exacerbation’ which involves a type of white blood cell and is responsible for half of asthma and 30 per cent of COPD attacks.
Patients were split into three random groups and given the benralizumab injection and dummy tablets, the standard care of prednisolone steroids 30mg daily for five days and a dummy injection, or both the benralizumab injection and steroids.
Experts say the treatment – which could be given at home or in GP surgeries at the point of attack – could slash hospital admissions as well as reduce the four asthma and 85 COPD deaths every day in the UK (file image)
After 28 days, respiratory symptoms of cough, wheeze, breathlessness and sputum were found to be better in people on benralizumab.
And after 90 days, there were four times fewer people in the benralizumab group who ‘failed treatment’ – classed requiring another treatment to get better, having further attacks or – dying compared with those receiving steroids.
Treatment with the benralizumab injection also took longer to stop working, meaning fewer visits to a GP or hospital for patients, according to the findings published in the Lancet Respiratory Medicine.
Dr Richard Russell, of King’s College London, who co-authored the study, said: ‘I think this is this has the opportunity to completely change the landscape.
‘We do have to do it kind of bigger scale, but we’re looking at a reasonable timescale here with we certainly could be in a position in two and a half to three years, and I do mean that whereby we’ve got these drugs available..’
While steroids such as prednisolone can reduce inflammation in the lungs, they can have severe side-effects such as diabetes and osteoporosis.
Benralizumab is currently given as a repeat treatment for severe asthma at a low dose but the results show larger single doses during attacks is an effective treatment.
Lead investigator Professor Mona Bafadhel, from King’s, said: ‘This could be a game-changer for people with asthma and COPD.
After 28 days, respiratory symptoms of cough, wheeze, breathlessness and sputum were found to be better in people on benralizumab (file image)
‘Treatment for asthma and COPD exacerbations have not changed in 50 years, despite causing 3.8 million deaths worldwide a year combined.
‘Benralizumab is a safe and effective drug already used to manage severe asthma.
‘We’ve used the drug in a different way – at the point of an exacerbation – to show that it’s more effective than steroid tablets, which is the only treatment currently available.’
AstraZeneca provided the drug for the study and funded the research, but had no input into trial design, delivery, analysis or interpretation.
Dr Samantha Walker, director of research and innovation at Asthma and Lung UK, welcomed the findings but said: ‘It’s appalling that this is the first new treatment for those suffering from asthma and COPD attacks in 50 years, indicating how desperately underfunded lung health research is.’