On 28 September 2025, at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) congress in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, results from a post hoc analysis of the ANANKE (NCT04272463) study were presented. The study focused on AstraZeneca’s Fasenra (benralizumab), an anti-interleukin-5 receptor (anti-IL-5Rα), in patients with severe eosinophilic asthma (SEA), and evaluated the proportion of patients achieving clinical remission (CR) over a period of 3, 12 and 24 months. The results emphasised benralizumab’s efficacy to induce a rapid and durable clinical remission in patients with SEA and reinforces this biologic therapy’s position as disease-modifying within this patient population.
The observational multicentre, retrospective cohort ANANKE study involved 217 patients diagnosed with SEA who were initiated on benralizumab in Italian treatment centres in 2020. The aim of the post hoc study was to assess the proportion of patients achieving CR defined as no exacerbations, no oral corticosteroid (OCS), including all of complete CR [cCR] or any two of partial CR [pCR], absence of asthma symptoms, absence of exacerbations and stable lung function (worsening of FEV1 max 150mL), as per the Severe Asthma Network Italy (SANI) definition. The study period was 24 months of treatment with benralizumab.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Access deeper industry intelligence
Experience unmatched clarity with a single platform that combines unique data, AI, and human expertise.
The presentation demonstrated that benralizumab was able to induce CR from as early as three months, with 87.2% of patients achieving CR (cCR: 46.8%, pCR: 40.4%). Similar trends were also observed at the 12-month and 24-month time periods, with 95.0% (cCR: 46.8%, pCR: 40.4%) of patients and 96.1% (cCR: 46.8%, pCR: 40.4%) of patients achieving CR in the former and latter groups respectively. Clinical remission is a crucial treatment goal for SEA and biologics within this disease space aim to improve the outcome rates of this attribute. Although definitions of clinical remission can vary, existing data also sheds a light on CR rates among other anti-interleukin (IL)-5 drugs such as GSK’s Nucala (mepolizumab). Nucala’s CR was reported to be 43.2% in the first 12 months, and 52.9% in 24 months (CR defined by Crimi and colleagues in 2024 in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology as: no annual exacerbations + no OCS + asthma control test [ACT] ≥20). In this regard, the post hoc analysis results presented for benralizumab will likely bolster confidence among physicians to continue the use of Fasenra in the patient population with SEA.
Fasenra is an anti-IL-5Rα monoclonal antibody (mAb) currently being used as an add-on maintenance in patients with SEA. As per GlobalData’s estimates, the severe asthma market was estimated to be $5.0 billion in 2023 and is expected to grow to $10.0 billion across the 8 major markets (8MM: China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, the UK and the US), growing at a compound annual growth rate of 7.1%. With regards to Fasenra, this therapy is estimated to have achieved sales of $156.5 million within SEA across the 8MM in 2023 and is anticipated to reach sales of $215.6 million in 2033, with the results from the post hoc analysis set to help bolster this therapy’s position in the market.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalData
