GSK’s Depemokimab Asthma Drug Halves Attacks in Phase 3 Trials

In phase 3 trials, GSK’s long-acting asthma medication, depemokimab, showed encouraging results, reducing the frequency of asthma attacks in individuals with severe asthma and type 2 inflammation. When compared to a placebo over a 52-week period, depemokimab, a monoclonal antibody that prevents IL-5 from attaching to its receptor, demonstrated a 54% reduction in asthma exacerbations. The critical phase 1 and phase 2 trials, which included 760 adults and children, produced the results.

Although depemokimab achieved its primary endpoint in May, as GSK had first reported, the company also presented additional comprehensive data at the European Respiratory Society International Conference in Vienna. A combined analysis of the two trials also showed a 72% decrease in severe exacerbations that necessitated hospital stays or ER visits, underscoring the medication’s potential to enhance asthma care.

The treatment’s overall success in lowering asthma attacks boosts GSK’s chances of receiving regulatory clearance, even though it failed to meet some secondary endpoints. depemokimab, if authorized, has the potential to be a game-changer in the asthma treatment industry by providing patients with severe asthma with a long-acting alternative.