Comparison of Anti-IgE and Anti-IL5 Treatments on Corticosteroids Purchase for Adult Asthma, a Real-Life Insight

INTRODUCTION: Several biological treatments are available for patients with asthma who are not well controlled with inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) and bronchodilators. Real-life studies comparing the effectiveness of add-on biological treatments are lacking. METHODS: In this retrospective study, the population included adult patients with asthma who were treated with omalizumab and mepolizumab. The number of systemic corticosteroids (injectable and oral) and the number of ICS purchases were compared between 12 months before the first biological treatment and 12 months after. RESULTS: Of 173 patients, 122 were treated with omalizumab and 51 with mepolizumab. A higher proportion of females received mepolizumab than omalizumab (87% vs. 48%, respectively, p = 0.034). Omalizumab significantly reduced the number of patients who purchased corticosteroid injections from 34% to 21% (p < 0.001) but not mepolizumab. A trend toward reduction in the number of patients who purchased corticosteroid tablets was demonstrated during the year of mepolizumab treatment (from 84% to 63%, p = 0.07). For both drugs, no significant differences were found in the mean number of corticosteroid injections, tablets, and inhaler purchases between the year before and during the biological treatments. CONCLUSION: Omalizumab was superior to mepolizumab in reducing the number of patients who were treated with corticosteroid injections.