AstraZeneca's COPD candidate succeeds in twin Phase III studies

(Sharecast News) - Drugmaker AstraZeneca said on Friday that its monoclonal antibody tozorakimab had met the primary endpoint in both of its Phase III OBERON and TITANIA trials in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

AstraZeneca said tozorakimab delivered "statistically significant and clinically meaningful reductions" in the annualised rate of moderatetosevere COPD exacerbations versus placebo in former smokers, the primary study population, as well as in the overall population, which included both former and current smokers across all eosinophil levels and lungfunction severities.

The FTSE 100-listed firm stated tozorakimab, a potential firstinclass IL33targeting biologic, was designed to inhibit signalling of both the reduced and oxidised forms of IL33, with the aim of reducing inflammation and breaking the cycle of mucus dysfunction that contributes to COPD worsening.

AstraZeneca noted that COPD affects nearly 400m people worldwide and was the thirdleading cause of death globally.

Sharon Barr, AstraZeneca's vice president of biopharmaceuticals R&D, said: "Today's tozorakimab results deliver the first two confirmatory Phase III trials for an IL-33 biologic, which is a major scientific advancement in COPD, the world's third leading cause of death. Tozorakimab works in a fundamentally different way from other biologics, inhibiting the signalling of the reduced and oxidised forms of IL-33 to both decrease inflammation and disrupt the cycle of mucus dysfunction that are key disease drivers in COPD."

As of 0855 GMT, AstraZeneca shares were up 3.37% at 14,296p.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

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