MHLW (Japan) approves Tezspire for the treatmant of severe asthma
AstraZeneca’s Tezspire (tezepelumab) has been approved in Japan for the treatment of bronchial asthma in patients with severe or refractory disease in whom asthma symptoms cannot be controlled with mid- or high-dose inhaled corticosteroids and other long-term maintenance therapies
The approval by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) was based on efficacy and safety results from the PATHFINDER clinical trial programme. The application included results from the pivotal NAVIGATOR Phase III trial in which Tezspire demonstrated superiority across every primary and key secondary endpoint in patients with severe asthma, compared to placebo, when added to standard therapy.
Tezspire is the first and only biologic for severe asthma that acts at the top of the inflammatory cascade by blocking thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP), an epithelial cytokine.Tezspire consistently and significantly reduced asthma exacerbations across the PATHWAY Phase II and NAVIGATOR Phase III clinical trials which included a broad population of severe asthma patients irrespective of key biomarkers, including blood eosinophil counts, allergic status and fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO)
Hironori Sagara, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Medicine Division of Respiratory Medicine & Allergology, Showa University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan, said: “Severe asthma is a debilitating disease, and many patients continue to experience frequent exacerbations and a significantly reduced quality of life despite recent advances in treatment. Across clinical trials, Tezspire has demonstrated significant results in a broad population of severe asthma patients, and with this approval, physicians can now offer patients in Japan a meaningful new treatment option.”