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