A ‘major breakthrough’ has been made by a professor at Guy’s and St Thomas’ and King’s College Hospital for treating one of the most common respiratory diseases in the world.
Asthma affects almost 300 million people worldwide, with around 3-5 per cent of people suffering from it severely.
Those with severe asthma – prone to repeated asthma attacks – typically have to take inhaled steroids, which come with unpleasant and often serious side effects.
But now a landmark study, led by a local professor, has shown that severe asthma can be controlled using biologic therapies, without the need for regular high-dose steroids.
The findings from the multinational study demonstrated that in 92 per cent of patients using the biologic therapy, benralizumab could safely reduce inhaled steroid dose and more than 60 per cent could stop all use.
The SHAMAL study was led by Professor David Jackson, head of the Severe Asthma Centre at Guy’s and St Thomas’ and Professor of Respiratory Medicine at King’s College London.
Professor Jackson said: “Biological therapies such as benralizumab have revolutionised severe asthma care in many ways, and the results of this study show for the first time that steroid-related harm can be avoided for the majority of patients using this therapy.”
Benralizumab reduces the number of inflammatory cells called eosinophil. This is produced in abnormal numbers in the airways of patients with severe asthma and can be the reason for asthma attacks.
Benralizumab is injected every four to eight weeks and is available in specialist NHS asthma centres.
The SHAMAL study took place across 22 sites in four countries – the UK, France, Italy and Germany.
Similar studies to SHAMAL will be necessary before firm recommendations can be made regarding the safety and efficacy of reducing or eliminating high-dose steroid use with other biologic therapies.
The study was funded by AstraZeneca and carried out by researchers at renowned universities including Queens University Belfast, Université Paris-Saclay and Trinity College Dublin.