GSK’s asthma drug Nucala meets main goal in study on treating smoker’s lungs, ET HealthWorld

Bengaluru: British drugmaker GSK said on Friday that its asthma drug, Nucala, met the main goal of a late-stage study in treating patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), or smoker’s lungs.

Patients treated with Nucala and an inhaled maintenance therapy for up to 104 weeks had a lower annualised rate of moderate or severe exacerbations than those given a placebo, GSK said.

COPD causes restricted airflow and breathing problems and is also known as ‘smoker’s lungs’ because in Western countries, it primarily affects cigarette smokers.

Nucala is a monoclonal antibody that inhibits interleukin-5, which helps regulate eosinophils, a type of white blood cell that causes inflammation in the lungs when overproduced.

GSK said COPD affects more than 300 million people, with up to 40 per cent of patients exhibiting type 2 inflammation characterised by raised blood eosinophil count.

Nucala, known also as mepolizumab, was first approved in 2015 for a type of severe asthma in the United States. Its sales grew 18% to 1.7 billion pounds in 2023. It contributed nearly 6 per cent to GSK sales last year.

(Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza)