Presentation (CTI)

OBJECTIVES: Attaining clinical remission is a key goal in severe asthma (SA) management, which is achieved for some SA patients using biologics. To assess remission status within the first 2 years (y) following benralizumab initiation in real-world practice.
METHODS: This French health claims database study included SA adults with at least 1 benralizumab dispensing between 01/01/2019 and 12/31/2023. Remission was identified in the database as a 1-y period starting during benralizumab exposure and defined as the absence of oral corticosteroid (OCS) dispensing, ≤3 dispensing of short-acting beta-agonist (SABA), mean daily inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) dose ≤1,000µg beclometasone-equivalent, and no asthma-related hospitalizations. Patients who did not meet these criteria within 2y of benralizumab exposure were classified as patients with no remission.
RESULTS: In the cohort with ≥2y exposure to benralizumab (N=3,066), 1,248 patients achieved remission within 2y; of these, 81.2% attained remission by 1y. Mean time-to-remission was 178.6±201.0 days. The duration of the remission period was 2.4±1.0y. In the remission group, vs the no remission group, nasal polyposis and absence of prior biologic exposure were more frequent (10,4% vs 6,4% and 75,2% vs 61,9% respectively). In addition, treatment burden was lower (mean ICS dose 880 vs 1,228.9 µg/day, annual OCS dose 1,961.6 vs 3,235.4 mg, 5.4 vs 12.7 SABA packs) and asthma-related hospitalizations were lower (0.4 vs 0.6). Sex and age were similar between groups (female 58.0% vs 57.4%; median age 62y, IQR 54-70 vs 53-71).
CONCLUSIONS: In this nationwide cohort, a considerable proportion of SA patients achieved remission within 2y of initiating benralizumab and the analysis highlight several conditions associated with remission.