Asthma and COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) attacks are common lung conditions that take your breath away. Approximately 450,000 people worldwide die from asthma attacks each year. A new treatment is claimed to be a game-changer and hopes to reduce those statistics dramatically.

 

It’s been half a decade.

It’s been 50 years since the last new treatment for the long-term conditions, and now two leading UK hospitals have completed a trial and developed a new injection for asthma and COPD sufferers, more effective than current treatments such as steroid drugs.

 

The ABRA trial reveals a game changer for lung conditions.

The Oxford University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Guys at St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust in the UK performed the ABRA trial, and the results claimed to be a game changer for asthma and COPD sufferers.

The results of the trial showed that a repurposed drug called Benralizumab can be more effective than current treatments such as the use of steroids. Benralizumab is a monoclonal antibody which targets specific white blood cells to reduce lung inflammation. The antibody is effective and can reduce the need for further treatment.

For the trial, randomised patients with a high risk of COPD were split into 3 groups.

Group 1 received a Benralizumab injection and dummy tablets.

Group 2 received a standard of care, prednisolone and dummy injections.

Group 3 received a Benralizumab injection and standard of care.

28 days later respiratory issues were relieved by those taking Beralizmab. After 90 days 4 times fewer people in the groups taking Benralizumab failed treatment compared to group 2. Group 1 took longer to fail with fewer episodes and didn’t need to go to hospital and they had an improvement in quality of life.

 

What the experts say.

The lead investigator of the trial, Professor Mona Bafadhel from King’s Centre for Lung Health said, “This could be a game-changer for people with asthma and COPD. Treatment for asthma and COPD exacerbations have not changed in fifty years despite causing 3.8 million deaths worldwide a year combined.”

She added, “Benralizumab is a safe and effective drug already used to manage severe asthma. We’ve used the drug differently – at the point of an exacerbation – to show that it’s more effective than steroid tablets which are the only treatment currently available. The big advance in the ABRA study is the finding that targeted therapy works in asthma and COPD attacks. Instead of giving everyone the same treatment, we found targeting the highest risk patients with very targeted treatment, with the right level of inflammation was much better than guessing what treatment they needed.”

The first author of the ABRA trial, Dr Sanjay Ramakrishnan, Clinical Senior Lecturer at the University of Western Australia said, “Our study shows massive promise for asthma and COPD treatment. COPD is the third leading cause of death worldwide but treatment for the condition is tuck in the 20th century. We need to provide these patients with life-saving options before their time runs out. The ABRA trial was only possible with the collaboration between the NHS and universities and shows how this close relationship can innovate healthcare and improve people’s lives.”

The Director of Research and Innovation, Dr Samantha Walker, at Asthma + Lung UK said, “It’s great news for people with lung conditions that a potential alternative to giving steroid tablets has been found to treat asthma attacks and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations. But it’s appalling that this is the first new treatment for those suffering from asthma and COPD attacks in 50 years, indicating how desperately underfunded lung health research is.”

She concluded, “Our vision is a world where everyone has healthy lungs.”

 

Asthma and COPD attacks.

Asthma and COPD attacks are also called exacerbations. They are common. Both are chronic lung conditions, an asthma attack can last a few minutes or several hours, and COPD disease, such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis is constant and gets worse over time.

Asthma attacks and COPD tend to flare up due to triggers such as:

• An allergic reaction such as hayfever
• Physical activity
• Stress
• Hormone imbalance
• Air pollution
• 2nd hand smoke
• Obesity
• Substances in the workplace or home
• Weather
• Wind-carrying fungal spores

 

Symptoms include shortness of breath, wheezing, coughing or a rattling chest. An attack occurs when muscles around the bronchial tubes constrict, narrowing the air passages and making it extremely difficult to breathe.

Attacks can cause significant distress and affect people’s home and work life. Currently, the main choice of steroid drug used for treating lung conditions is Prednisolene which reduces inflammation in the lungs but it can come with serious side effects like increasing the risk of diabetes and osteoporosis.

Inhaled corticosteroid-containing medications can prevent asthma attacks by treating the underlying inflammation that causes asthma. Although, many patients fail the current treatments and need repeated courses including rehospitalization. In the UK someone has an asthma attack every 10 seconds costing the NHS £5.9 billion a year.

 

World Asthma Day

World Asthma Day is on the 2nd of May 2025. In celebration, the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) has chosen the theme “Make Inhaled Treatments Accessible for ALL”.

Emphasis is on the need to ensure that people with asthma can access inhaled medications that are essential both for controlling the underlying disease and treating attacks.

Find out more here. 

To help improve lung function, we recommend our product Taxorest.

 

 

 

References

 

https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/first-new-treatment-asthma-attacks-in-50-years

https://ginasthma.org/world-asthma-day-2024/

https://acaai.org/asthma/symptoms/asthma-attack/

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