OBJECTIVE

To determine the efficacy of benralizumab in achieving control over severe bronchial asthma (BA) in patients prescribed additional therapy with this drug.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The study sample included 37 people with a confirmed diagnosis of severe bronchial asthma (SBA), including 35 women (67%) (average age 52 years [22; 71]), 12 men (33%) (age 57 [30; 63] years). All patients received additional treatment with Benralizumab for one year. The study was completed after 12 months of therapy with this drug. The majority of participants, 21 patients (56%), had an allergic phenotype of the disease, a quarter (25%) had a non-allergic phenotype, and eight respondents (12%) had a mixed course of the disease.

RESULTS

Patients had an extremely high daily need for emergency medical care, approximately ten times a day, and had two or more exacerbations in the previous twelve months before the start of the study. After one year of treatment with benralizumab, 30 patients (81%) became asthma-free, while seven (19%) had only occasional respiratory symptoms, one to two times a week. Asthma exacerbations occurred in only six patients (16%) over the next 12 months, and these episodes were successfully managed at home with nebulised inhalations. Five patients (13%) were taking systemic corticosteroids (prednisolone) at a dose of 5 to 10 mg before starting the additional biologically active treatment. Three were able to stop taking the steroids completely, and the other two reduced the dose by half.

CONCLUSION

The results of the analysis show that after one year of therapy with Benralizumab, control of the condition significantly improved in the overwhelming majority of patients: the ACQ-5 index became zero, and the ACT test scores increased from 16 to 23. Moreover, three patients were able to completely eliminate the use of systemic corticosteroids.