Efficacy and steroid-sparing effect of benralizumab: has it an advantage over its competitors?

Drugs in Context

article

Francesco Menzella¹  Mirella Biava²  Diego Bagnasco³  Carla Galeone¹  Anna Simonazzi¹  Patrizia Ruggiero¹  Nicola Facciolongo¹ 

[1]Department of Medical Specialties

[2]University of Rome “La Sapienza”

[3]Allergy & Respiratory Diseases, University of Genoa

关键词: comparison;    eosinophils;    oral corticosteroids;    randomized clinical trials;    side effects;    steroid-sparing effect.;   

DOI  :  10.7573/dic.212580

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: C S F Medical Communications Ltd.

【 摘 要 】

Severe refractory asthma is characterized by a higher risk ofasthma-related symptoms, morbidities, and exacerbations.This disease also determines much greater healthcare costsand deterioration in health-related quality of life (HR-QoL).Another concern, which is currently much discussed, is thehigh percentage of patients needing regular use of oralcorticosteroids (OCS), which can lead to several systemicside effects. Airway eosinophilia is present in the majority ofasthmatic patients, and elevated levels of blood and sputumeosinophils are associated with worse control of asthma.Regarding severe refractory eosinophilic asthma, interleukin-5(IL-5) plays a fundamental role in the inflammatory response,due to the profound effect on eosinophils biology. The adventof the biological therapies provided an effective strategy, evenif the increased number of molecules with different targetsraised the challenge of choosing the right therapy and avoidoverlapping. When considering severe refractory eosinophilicasthma and anti-IL-5 treatments, it is not easy to define whichdrug to choose between mepolizumab, reslizumab, andbenralizumab.In this article, we carried out an indirect comparison amongliterature data, especially between OCS reduction studies(ZONDA-SIRIUS) and pivotal studies (SIROCCO-MENSA),evaluating whether the clinical efficacy and the steroid-sparingeffect of benralizumab may represent an advantage over othercompounds. This data could help the clinician in the decisionprocess of treatment choice, within the different availabletherapeutic options for eosinophilic refractory severe asthma.

【 授权许可】

CC BY-NC-ND