Benralizumab Prevents Recurrent Exacerbations in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A Post Hoc Analysis

TY - JOUR

T1 - Benralizumab Prevents Recurrent Exacerbations in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

T2 - A Post Hoc Analysis

AU - Singh, Dave

AU - Criner, Gerard J.

AU - Agustí, Alvar

AU - Bafadhel, Mona

AU - Söderström, Johan

AU - Saraiva, Gabriela Luporini

AU - Song, Yue

AU - Licaj, Idlir

AU - Jison, Maria

AU - Martin, Ubaldo J.

AU - Psallidas, Ioannis

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023 Singh et al.

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - Exacerbations in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which tend to occur in clusters and increase with disease severity, come with high societal and economic burdens. Prevention and delay of recurrent exacerbations is an unmet and significant therapeutic need for patients with COPD. GALATHEA (NCT02138916) and TERRANOVA (NCT02155660) were trials assessing efficacy of benralizumab in patients with frequent COPD exacerbations despite treatment. Although these studies found that benralizumab given as an add-on treatment did not significantly reduce annual rates of COPD exacerbations after 56 weeks of treatment, in the following exploratory post hoc analysis of the GALATHEA and TERRANOVA trials we identified a potential responder population in which treatment with benralizumab prevents recurrent COPD exacerbations during 30-and 90-day periods following an initial exacerbation, a vulnerable period for an exacerbation to occur. This responder population was characterized by high blood eosinophil counts and frequent previous exacerbations despite optimized triple therapy. These results highlight the importance of targeted therapies for high-risk populations and merit further research into the benefits of biologic therapies for COPD exacerbations.

AB - Exacerbations in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which tend to occur in clusters and increase with disease severity, come with high societal and economic burdens. Prevention and delay of recurrent exacerbations is an unmet and significant therapeutic need for patients with COPD. GALATHEA (NCT02138916) and TERRANOVA (NCT02155660) were trials assessing efficacy of benralizumab in patients with frequent COPD exacerbations despite treatment. Although these studies found that benralizumab given as an add-on treatment did not significantly reduce annual rates of COPD exacerbations after 56 weeks of treatment, in the following exploratory post hoc analysis of the GALATHEA and TERRANOVA trials we identified a potential responder population in which treatment with benralizumab prevents recurrent COPD exacerbations during 30-and 90-day periods following an initial exacerbation, a vulnerable period for an exacerbation to occur. This responder population was characterized by high blood eosinophil counts and frequent previous exacerbations despite optimized triple therapy. These results highlight the importance of targeted therapies for high-risk populations and merit further research into the benefits of biologic therapies for COPD exacerbations.

KW - benralizumab

KW - COPD

KW - eosinophil

KW - recurrent exacerbations

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85166171886&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.2147/COPD.S418944

DO - 10.2147/COPD.S418944

M3 - Article

C2 - 37533773

AN - SCOPUS:85166171886

SN - 1176-9106

VL - 18

SP - 1595

EP - 1599

JO - International Journal of COPD

JF - International Journal of COPD

ER -