Millions of asthma sufferers could see their lives changed within three years with a ‘game-changer’ treatment

Millions of asthma sufferers could see their lives changed within three years by a ‘groundbreaking’ new treatment, British scientists say.

Test studies have shown that an antibody injection was significantly more effective at stopping attacks than current steroid treatments, which are given to patients when blue ‘response’ inhalers are insufficient.

Known as Benralizumab, it reduced the need for further treatment in people with severe asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) attacks by almost a third (30 percent).

Experts say the treatment – which could be given at home or in GP surgeries at the point of attack – could reduce hospital admissions and reduce asthma and COPD deaths from 85 a day in Britain.

They estimate that the treatment, which targets specific white blood cells to reduce pneumonia, could be rolled out over the next two to three years if larger, planned trials are successful.

The trial, led by King’s College London, involved 158 people who required emergency care for an attack on Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.

They were given a quick blood test to see if they were having an ‘eosinophilic exacerbation’, which involves a type of white blood cell that is responsible for half of asthma attacks and 30 percent of COPD attacks.

Patients were divided into three random groups and received the benralizumab injection and dummy tablets, the standard care of prednisolone steroids 30 mg per day for five days and a dummy injection, or both the benralizumab injection and steroids.

Experts say the treatment – which could be given at home or in GP surgeries at the point of attack – could reduce hospital admissions and reduce the number of deaths from asthma and COPD from 85 per day in Britain (file image)

After 28 days, respiratory symptoms such as coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath and sputum were found to be better in people taking benralizumab.

And after 90 days, there were four times fewer people in the benralizumab group who “failed treatment” (who needed new treatment to get better, who had new seizures, or who died) compared to those who received steroids.

The treatment with the benralizumab injection also took longer to stop working, meaning fewer visits to a GP or hospital for patients, according to the findings published in the Lancet Respiratory Medicine.

Dr. Richard Russell, from King’s College London, co-author of the study, said: ‘I think this has the opportunity to completely change the landscape.

“We need to do it on a larger scale, but we’re looking at a reasonable time frame here, where we could certainly be in a position in two and a half to three years, and I mean where we have these drugs available…”

Although steroids such as prednisolone can reduce inflammation in the lungs, they can have serious side effects, such as diabetes and osteoporosis.

Benralizumab is currently given at low doses as repeated treatment for severe asthma, but results show that larger single doses are an effective treatment during attacks.

Lead researcher Professor Mona Bafadhel from King’s said: ‘This could be a game-changer for people with asthma and COPD.

After 28 days, respiratory symptoms such as coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath and sputum were found to be better in people taking benralizumab (file image)

‘The treatment of asthma and COPD exacerbations has not changed over the past fifty years, despite the fact that they cause 3.8 million deaths annually worldwide.

‘Benralizumab is a safe and effective drug that is already used to treat severe asthma.

‘We used the drug in a different way – at the point of an exacerbation – to show that it is more effective than steroid tablets, the only treatment currently available.’

AstraZeneca supplied the drug for the study and funded the research, but had no input into the design, delivery, analysis or interpretation of the trial.

Dr. Samantha Walker, director of research and innovation at Asthma and Lung UK, welcomed the findings but said: ‘It’s devastating that this is the first new treatment for people suffering from asthma and COPD attacks in 50 years, which shows just how desperate is underfunded lung health research.’