Tezspire’s New Self-Administration Labeling Could Bring Higher Market Share

February 9

The FDA on Feb. 2 granted approval for a self-administered version of Amgen Inc. and AstraZeneca plc’s Tezspire (tezepelumab-ekko), a biologic used as a preventive maintenance therapy for severe asthma. Pharmacy experts tell AIS Health, a division of MMIT, that the drug’s high price tag and high clinical thresholds mean that adoption is unlikely to spike in the short term.

The new version of Tezspire, a human monoclonal antibody, can be self-administered by patients through a pre-filled pen. Doses last four weeks. Tezspire is “the only biologic approved for severe asthma with no phenotype (e.g., eosinophilic or allergic) or biomarker limitation within its approved label,” per an Amgen press release. It was first approved in December 2021, But previously, the drug had to be administered by a practitioner.

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Radar on Drug Benefits

Peter Johnson

Peter has worked as a journalist since 2011 and has covered health care since 2020. At AIS Health, Peter covers trends in finance, business and policy that affect the health insurance and pharma sectors. For Health Plan Weekly, he covers all aspects of the U.S. health insurance sector, including employer-sponsored insurance, Medicaid managed care, Medicare Advantage and the Affordable Care Act individual marketplaces. In Radar on Drug Benefits, Peter covers the operations of (and conflicts between) pharmacy benefit managers and pharmaceutical manufacturers, with a particular focus on pricing dynamics and market access. Before joining AIS Health, Peter covered transportation, public safety and local government for various outlets in Seattle, his hometown and current place of residence. He graduated with a B.A. from Colby College.