Biologic Therapy for Asthma & COPD: 8 Questions on Targets, Pathways, & mAbs

March 24, 2021

Research into biologic therapy for asthma and COPD has been both successful and frustrating. Find out what you know about the progress with these 8 questions.

Ongoing research into the use of biologic therapies for patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has produced mixed results to date with promise for the future.

Take this quick quiz to test your knowledge of key developments of the past few years.

1. Asthma and COPD research has led to novel targeted therapies that focus on which of the above?

Answer: D. Underlying pathways in the pathophysiology of asthma and COPD are targeted by biologic treatments.

2. Which of the targets above has shown the most promise for management of COPD?

Answer: B. IL-5 has demonstrated the greatest promise as a target for treatment of COPD.

3. By 2019, biologic therapies for asthma were available for patients with which of the phenotypes above?

Answer: A. Type 2 high. Biologic therapies were available by 2019 only for patients with these phenotypes.

4. In 2020 guidelines for severe asthma management, the EAACI cited which of the above as issues that require clarification?

Answer: D. All the above were issues highlighted by the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology for clarification.

5. In the CHRONICLE study, biologic switching—omalizumab, mepolizumab, reslizumab, benralizumab, and dupilumab—occurred in what percentage of patients?

Answer: A. 10% of patients in the CHRONICLE study of treatment of severe asthma switched among biologic agents as additional drugs were approved.

6. A recent algorithm that identified the optimal biologic class for patients with specific severe refractory T2 asthma endotypes included which of the above?

Answer: E. All the above. Authors from the Scottish Centre for Respiratory Research, School of Medicine, University of Dundee, Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom identified all of these therapies for the asthma endotypes specified in their recent algorithm.

7. Which therapy above was beneficial for severe acute exacerbations of COPD in a recent pilot study?

Answer: C. Hyaluron was found beneficial to treat severe acute exacerbations of COPD in a recent pilot study published in Respiratory Research.

8. Which of the above biologic therapies received FDA approval for COPD in early 2021?

Answer: E. None of the mentioned agents received FDA approval for treatment of COPD.