Clinical Report: GSK records asthma win

The data haven’t yet been reported, but news from GSK plc (LSE:GSK: NYSE:GSK) that depemokimab met the primary endpoints in a pair of Phase III asthma studies suggests the IL-5 antagonist could change the way severe asthma is treated. The program takes advantage of advances in antibody half-life extension technologies to change the dosing schedule for injectable add-on therapies from once a month to twice a year.

In the SWIFT-1 and SWIFT-2 trials, depemokimab plus standard of care led to “statistically significant and clinically meaningful” reductions in asthma exacerbations over standard of care alone. The studies followed 375 and 380 patients with severe asthma with type 2 inflammation characterized by blood eosinophil count for 52 weeks...