Acute Exacerbations Treated With BenRAlizumab (The ABRA Study)

NCT04098718 · Status: UNKNOWN · Phase: PHASE2 · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 158

Last updated 2024-01-23

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Exacerbations of asthma and COPD are an important cause of hospital admission and the main cause of annual winter bed shortages. Despite current guideline treatment with prednisolone, 40% of patients require further treatment, 15% are readmitted and, of those hospitalised, 10% die within 3 months, all by definition treatment failures. The investigators have shown that there are two dominant patterns of airway inflammation in patients presenting with an acute episode: infection associated neutrophilic airway inflammation; and non-infection related eosinophilic airway inflammation. These patterns cannot be distinguished reliably by clinical categories (i.e. asthma or COPD) or a standard clinical assessment but are identified by the peripheral blood eosinophil count. These findings raise important questions that targeted treatment based on the blood eosinophil count would result in more efficient and effective management. However, even in patients with the right pattern of airway inflammation the beneficial effects of prednisolone have to be offset against a high potential for harm, with an estimated the number needed to harm as 5 for every 10 patients treated.

Benralizumab is an interleukin-5 receptor-α monoclonal antibody, injected subcutaneously, which rapidly reduces peripheral blood eosinophils for 90 days with a satisfactory safety profile. Benralizumab treatment at stable state has been shown to increase post-bronchodilator FEV1 and reduce the rates of severe exacerbations in patients with severe eosinophilic asthma and improve lung function in patients with eosinophilic COPD. Benralizumab is an attractive candidate for the acute treatment of eosinophilic exacerbations, without the side-effects of prednisolone. The investigators propose to test the hypothesis that, for participants who have a raised eosinophil count at exacerbation, a single injection of Benralizumab alone or in combination with prednisolone will improve clinical outcomes compared to prednisolone alone. The investigators will also study the effect of prednisolone on symptoms, lung function and quality of life, in an exacerbation when the eosinophil count is not raised.

Conditions

Interventions

DRUG

Benralizumab

100mg sub cut once only

DRUG

Prednisolone

30mg tablet daily for 5 days

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • University of Oxford

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Mona Bafadhel, PhD, MBChB · Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, UK

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
DOUBLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2021-03-29
Primary Completion
2024-02-19
Completion
2024-11-19

Countries

  • United Kingdom

Study Locations

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Entities

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT04098718 on ClinicalTrials.gov