Key takeaways:

• Patients take depemokimab subcutaneously twice a year.
• The study included 559 patients with an Asthma Control Questionnaire-5 score of 1.5 or higher.
• Improvements were seen as early as 4 weeks.

PHOENIX — Patients who used depemokimab for uncontrolled asthma experienced improved symptoms, activity, impact on daily life and well-being through 52 weeks, according to a poster presented at the CHEST Annual Meeting.

The biologic’s dosing schedule of twice a year may reduce the burden of treatment for patients, Ian D. Pavord, MA, DM, FRCP, FERS, FMedSci, professor of respiratory medicine at the University of Oxford, and colleagues wrote.

Data derived from Pavord ID, et al. Twice-yearly depemokimab is associated with early and sustained improvements in quality-of-life domains in patients with uncontrolled type 2 asthma in SWIFT-1/-2. Presented at: CHEST Annual Meeting; Oct. 18-21, 2026; Phoenix.

The 559 patients with a baseline Asthma Control Questionnaire-5 score of 1.5 or higher in the phase 3 SWIFT-1/-2 studies included 363 who used subcutaneous 100 mg doses of depemokimab (Exdensur, GSK) every 26 weeks and 196 on placebo, both up to 52 weeks.

At week 4, mean changes from baseline in symptom scores on the St. George’s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) included –18.26 for the treatment group (n = 346) and –9.21 for the placebo group (n = 189).

Further changes included –21.62 for the treatment group (n = 342) and –14.65 for the placebo group (n = 190) at week 26 and –23.05 for the treatment group (n = 332) and –16.07 for the placebo group (n = 178) at week 52.

Mean changes in activity scores on the SGRQ were similar, the researchers said, including –12.33 with depemokimab (n = 346) and –7.69 with placebo (n = 189) at 4 weeks; –15.66 with depemokimab (n = 342) and –10.4 with placebo (n = 190) at 26 weeks; and –17.82 with depemokimab (n = 332) and –13.24 with placebo (n = 178) at 52 weeks.

In the impacts domain of the SGRQ, mean changes included –11.95 (n = 346) vs. –6.98 (n = 189) at week 4, –13.54 (n = 342) vs. –8.19 (n = 190) at week 26 and –15.56 (n = 332) vs. –9.77 (n = 178) at week 52, all for the treatment and placebo groups, respectively.

Based on these findings, the researchers said that improvements in quality of life based on symptoms, activity, impact on daily life and well-being emerged early and persisted with depemokimab, adding that doses every 26 weeks may reduce the treatment burden for patients.