TOPLINE:

In patients with severe asthma, treatment with mepolizumab — a first-in-class humanized anti-interleukin-5 monoclonal antibody — was associated with sustained reductions in healthcare resource use, including asthma-related hospitalizations and emergency visits, over a 24-month period, along with meaningful improvements in work productivity and daily activities.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers assessed the real-world impact of mepolizumab on healthcare resource utilization and work productivity and activity impairment in 822 patients with severe asthma (mean age, 54 years; 63% women; mean duration of asthma, 19.7 years) enrolled in the REALITI-A cohort.
• Patients received a 100 mg subcutaneous dose of mepolizumab and were followed up for 24 months or until the earliest event, including death, withdrawal of consent, 730 days post-administration, or the end of the study.
• Data were retrieved from medical records and from patient recall via electronic case report forms, assessed for 0-12 months, 12-24 months, and the overall 24-month period and were compared with the pretreatment period.
• Secondary outcomes included asthma-related healthcare resource utilization — hospitalizations, emergency department visits, and outpatient visits — and work productivity and activity impairment.
• Work productivity and activity impairment were assessed every 3 months, with patients reporting absenteeism, impairment while working, overall work productivity impairment, and daily activity impairment for the 7 days preceding the assessment; higher scores indicated lower work productivity and activity impairment.

TAKEAWAY:

• The rates of asthma-related hospitalizations, emergency department visits, and outpatient visits were significantly lower at 0-12 months, at 12-24 months, and over the 24‑month period than those in the pretreatment period (P < .001 for all).
• The mean number of overnight hospital stays declined by 1.4 (95% CI, -1.9 to -1.0) in the 0-12 months after treatment and by 1.7 (95% CI, -2.3 to -1.2) in the 12-24 months after treatment compared with the pretreatment period.
• Activity impairment, overall work productivity impairment, impairment while working, and absenteeism all decreased by more than 45% at 12 and 24 months of follow-up compared to the pretreatment period.

IN PRACTICE:

“The use of mepolizumab may alleviate cost-related burdens for employers and healthcare systems, an inference supported by similar outcomes observed in RCTs [randomized controlled trials] and other real-world studies,” the authors wrote.

SOURCE:

The study was led by Giorgio Walter Canonica, MD, Humanitas University, Milan, Italy. It was published online on September 29, 2025, in Journal of Asthma.

LIMITATIONS: 

This was a real-world, observational study, so the findings are not directly comparable with those reported in randomized trial populations as patients likely had more comorbidities and more severe asthma than typical trial participants. Missing data increased over time, particularly for patient-reported outcomes. The noninterventional design precluded comparison with a control group, and the study lacked sufficient power to detect pretreatment vs posttreatment changes in healthcare resource use and work productivity. 

DISCLOSURES:

The study was funded by GSK plc. Some authors disclosed receiving research grants, consulting fees, honoraria, or nonfinancial support from or having other ties with multiple pharmaceutical companies, including participation in advisory boards, lecture series, and educational events.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.