Asthma injection: A once-a-month injection may allow people with severe asthma to stop relying on daily steroid tablets, early trial results suggest.
Asthma affects an estimated 260 million people worldwide. Most manage their condition with inhalers, but a small group with severe disease are prescribed regular oral corticosteroids to keep symptoms under control. While effective, long-term steroid use is linked to complications such as osteoporosis, diabetes and a higher risk of infections.
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In a new international study, adults with severe, uncontrolled asthma were given injections of the biologic drug tezepelumab (Tezspire) every four weeks. All were already taking between 5 mg and 40 mg of steroid tablets daily when they joined the trial. After a year of treatment, just over half had completely stopped their oral steroids without their asthma worsening, and nearly 90% had reduced to a low dose. About one in three were able to come off steroids within six months.
Tezepelumab, developed by AstraZeneca, works by blocking a key protein involved in airway inflammation. It was approved in 2023 by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) as an add-on maintenance treatment for patients aged 12 and above whose asthma is not controlled by standard therapy.
The Wayfinder trial, led by King’s College London, included just under 300 adults from 11 countries, including the UK, US, France, Germany, Mexico and Spain. The results, published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine and presented at the British Thoracic Society winter meeting, showed not only a drop in steroid use but also better symptom control, improved lung function and higher reported quality of life. Around two-thirds of participants had no asthma attacks during the study period.
Lead investigator Prof David Jackson, a respiratory specialist at King’s College London and clinical lead for asthma services at Guy’s and Royal Brompton hospitals, said the findings were particularly promising for people who also struggle with allergy-related problems and chronic rhinosinusitis, as the drug appeared to help both upper and lower airway symptoms.
Asthma + Lung UK’s director of research and innovation, Dr Samantha Walker, called the results “incredibly encouraging” and said such treatments could be “transformational” for people with severe asthma. She also warned that funding for lung research remains fragile, despite respiratory illness being one of the leading causes of death in the UK.
