Airsupra (albuterol/budesonide) has been approved in the US for the as-needed treatment or prevention of bronchoconstriction and to reduce the risk of exacerbations in people with asthma aged 18 years and older.
Airsupra is a pressurised metered-dose inhaler (pMDI), fixed-dose combination of albuterol, a short-acting beta2-agonist (SABA), and budesonide, an anti-inflammatory inhaled corticosteroid (ICS). It is being developed by AstraZeneca and Avillion.
The approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was based on results from the MANDALA and DENALI Phase III trials.
In MANDALA, Airsupra significantly reduced the risk of severe exacerbations compared to albuterol in patients with moderate to severe asthma when used as an as-needed rescue medication in response to symptoms.
Importantly, in the secondary endpoint of mean annualised total systemic corticosteroid exposure, Airsupra demonstrated a significant reduction compared to albuterol at the approved dose of 180mcg albuterol/160mcg budesonide.
In DENALI, Airsupra significantly improved lung function compared to the individual components albuterol and budesonide in patients with mild to moderate asthma.
Bradley E Chipps, Past President of the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology and Medical Director of Capital Allergy & Respiratory Disease Center in Sacramento, US, said: “People with asthma are at risk of severe exacerbations regardless of their disease severity or level of control. Current albuterol rescue inhalers alleviate acute symptoms, but do not treat the underlying inflammation in asthma.
“The approval of Airsupra means that for the first time, adults with asthma in the US have a rescue treatment to manage both their symptoms and the inflammatory nature of their disease.”
Results from the MANDALA trial were published in the New England Journal of Medicine in May 2022.
