AstraZeneca and Amgen’s thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) blocker tezepelumab has demonstrated new improvements for patients with severe asthma and comorbid nasal polyps.

An exploratory analysis from the Phase III Navigator trial evaluated the effect of tezepelumab in patients with or without reported nasal polyps in the past two years.

According to this data, presented at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) international congress, tezepelumab treatment led to an 86% reduction in the annualised asthma exacerbation rate (AAER) in patients with nasal polyps, and 52% in those without nasal polyps compared to placebo plus standard of care (SoC).

On top of that, tezepelumab achieved a ‘clinically relevant’ improvement in nasal polyps symptoms at week 52, as measured by the Sinonasal Outcome Test (SNOT-22), with the treatment reducing the SNOT-22 score in patients with nasal polyps by 9.6 points.

AZ and Amgen’s TSLP blocker also improved lung function across both patient groups at week 52, with an increase in pre-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) of 0.20 L and 0.13 L versus placebo, in patients with and without nasal polyps respectively.

“The remarkable exacerbation reductions seen in asthma patients with comorbid nasal polyps add to the strong body of evidence showing the potential of tezepelumab,” said Mene Pangalos, executive vice president, BioPharmaceuticals R&D at AZ.

“Tezepelumab works differently from existing biologic medicines by targeting the top of the inflammatory cascade and we look forward to bringing this potential medicine to a broad population of severe asthma patients, including those with comorbid nasal polyps, as soon as possible,” he added.