Roche reported on 21 July that its IL-33 receptor blocker astegolimab did not meet the primary endpoint in the Phase III ARNASA trial for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), showing a 14.5% reduction in annualised exacerbation rates (AER) versus placebo without statistical significance. This contrasts with the Phase IIb ALIENTO trial, where the same dose (biweekly subcutaneous injection) achieved a statistically significant 15.4% AER reduction.

Astegolimab's safety profile aligned with prior studies, with no new signals observed. The drug, licensed from Amgen in 2016, inhibits IL-33-mediated inflammation. Both trials enrolled 1,300+ COPD patients regardless of smoking status or eosinophil levels. Roche will evaluate next steps for the program amid lower-than-expected exacerbation events across studies.

According to PharmCube's NextBiopharm® database, monoclonal antibody astegolimab uses the most popular drug modality among all 38 IL-33/IL-33R candidates, none of which are approved yet. Click here to request a free trial for NextBiopharm®.