ISSUE 1497
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The FDA has approved reslizumab (Cinqair – Teva), a humanized interleukin-5 (IL-5) antagonist monoclonal antibody, for add-on maintenance treatment of severe asthma in adults who have an eosinophilic phenotype. It is the second IL-5 antagonist to be approved in the US; mepolizumab (Nucala) was approved for the same indication in 2015.1
EOSINOPHILIC PHENOTYPE — What constitutes an eosinophilic phenotype is not well defined, but patients with this phenotype generally have severe disease with high eosinophil levels in blood and/or sputum despite treatment with a corticosteroid.2
OTHER MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES — In clinical trials, mepolizumab reduced exacerbations and the need for maintenance oral corticosteroids in patients with severe asthma and high eosinophil counts. The recombinant humanized
... more- Mepolizumab (Nucala) for severe eosinophilic asthma. Med Lett Drugs Ther 2016; 58:11.
- KF Chung et al. International ERS/ATS guidelines on definition, evaluation and treatment of severe asthma. Eur Respir J 2014; 43:343.
- W Busse et al. High eosinophil count: a potential biomarker for assessing successful omalizumab treatment effects. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2013; 132:485.
- M Castro et al. Reslizumab for inadequately controlled asthma with elevated blood eosinophil counts: results from two multicentre, parallel, double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trials. Lancet Respir Med 2015; 3:355.
- L Bjermer et al. Reslizumab for inadequately controlled asthma with elevated blood eosinophil levels: a randomized phase 3 study. Chest 2016 April 4 (epub).
- J Corren et al. Phase 3 study of reslizumab in patients with poorly controlled asthma: effects across a broad range of eosinophil counts. Chest 2016 March 24 (epub).

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