Abstract

Background: Benralizumab is an anti-IL-5Ra antibody for add-on maintenance therapy of severe eosinophilic asthma. The impact of benralizumab on quality of life (QoL) outside the clinical trial setting is unknown.

Objective: To describe change in QoL within the first 6 months of benralizumab treatment.

Methods: POWER is a prospective observational study (NCT03833141), part of XALOC. Patients with eosinophilic asthma and poor symptom control (ACQ-6 =1.5) were recruited from 23 clinics across Canada from 2019 prior to initiation of benralizumab. QoL was assessed using the EQ-5D-5L questionnaire at baseline and at 6 months following treatment initiation. Utility index scores were derived using the standard Canadian value set; higher scores reflect better QoL. Results are presented by EQ-5D domain and utility.

Results: 91 patients were included in this interim analysis. Mean utility score increased from 0.71 (95% CI: 0.67-0.74) at baseline to 0.79 (0.75-0.83) at month 6, a change from baseline of nearly 10% (0.08; 0.03-0.12; n=3 missing). Mean change from baseline for VAS scores was 13.3 (8.7-17.9). The proportion of patients reporting no problems increased at 6 months for all 5 domains (Figure 1).

Conclusions: After 6 months of treatment, patients reported a significant improvement in their QoL, with change exceeding the MCID and approaching the general utility of the Canadian population (0.86).