AstraZeneca Severe Asthma treatment Tezspire gets nod in EU

Professor Guy Brusselle, Department of Respiratory Medicine, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium, said: "Severe asthma is a complex disease given approximately 60% of patients have multiple drivers of inflammation. With the European approval of Tezspire, a first-in-class biologic acting at the top of the inflammation cascade, we have an opportunity to treat a broader population of patients with severe asthma, fulfilling a high unmet need in this disease."

Mene Pangalos, Executive Vice President, BioPharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZeneca, said: "Severe asthma continues to have a debilitating impact for people living with the disease, with many patients experiencing frequent exacerbations, an increased risk of hospitalisation and a significantly reduced quality of life. Tezspire is now the first and only biologic approved in Europe for patients with severe asthma with no phenotype or biomarker limitation and we look forward to bringing this important medicine to patients as quickly as possible."

Results from the NAVIGATOR Phase III trial were published in The New England Journal of Medicine in May 2021.

Tezspire has been approved in the US and other countries for the treatment of severe asthma, and regulatory reviews are ongoing in additional countries around the world.

Tezspire (tezepelumab) is being developed by AstraZeneca in collaboration with Amgen as a first-in-class human monoclonal antibody that inhibits the action of TSLP, a key epithelial cytokine that sits at the top of multiple inflammatory cascades and is critical in the initiation and persistence of allergic, eosinophilic and other types of airway inflammation associated with severe asthma, including airway hyperresponsiveness