Monthly injection could reduce asthma's ill effects, trial finds

A monthly injection could allow people with severe asthma to stop taking daily steroid tablets, a clinical trial has found.

- Anna Bawden Health and social affairs correspondent

More than 260 million people are thought to have asthma worldwide. While most can control it with inhalers to treat immediate symptoms and preventative ones to reduce inflammation, those with the most severe asthma often take daily doses of oral corticosteroids as well.

But long-term use is associated with serious health conditions, including osteoporosis, diabetes and increased vulnerability to infections.

Now an international clinical trial has found that participants who received injections of tezepelumab every four weeks were able to reduce or stop taking their steroids entirely with no ill effects.

Also known as Tezspire and made by AstraZeneca, tezepelumab binds to and blocks a protein associated with airway inflammation.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence approved the drug in 2023 as an additional treatment for patients over 12 whose usual medication does not control their asthma well.