Late Breaking Abstract - Depemokimab efficacy/safety in patients with asthma on medium/high-dose ICS: The Phase IIIA randomised SWIFT-1/2 studies

Background: Depemokimab is the first ultra-long-acting biologic to have enhanced binding affinity for interleukin-5 (IL-5) with high potency inhibition, enabling six-month dosing intervals for patients with asthma. Methods: The randomised double-blind placebo-controlled multicentre SWIFT-1/2 studies evaluated depemokimab efficacy/safety in patients with asthma receiving medium/high-dose ICS (Fig. 1). Results: Annualised clinically significant exacerbation rate over 52 weeks in SWIFT-1/2 was significantly lower (58%/48%; p<0.001) for depemokimab vs placebo (Fig. 2). Proportions of patients with an adverse event (AE) were similar for depemokimab vs placebo in SWIFT-1 (73% vs 73%) and lower in SWIFT-2 (72% vs 78%); AEs leading to discontinuation/withdrawal were <3% across groups in both trials. A smaller proportion of depemokimab patients had a serious AE vs placebo (SWIFT-1: 6% vs 17%; SWIFT-2: 7% vs 10%). Conclusions: Depemokimab significantly reduced exacerbations and was well tolerated in patients with asthma with type 2 inflammation recognised by blood eosinophil count. Funding: GSK 206713/213744; NCT04719832 /04718103 erj;64/suppl_68/RCT3718/F1 F1 F1 erj;64/suppl_68/RCT3718/F2 F2 F2