NICE recommends Teva’s Cinqaero to treat severe eosinophilic asthma

The UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended Teva Pharmaceutical Industries’ Cinqaero (reslizumab) for the treatment of patients with severe eosinophilic asthma.

Cinqaero is a humanised interleukin-5 (IL-5) antagonist monoclonal antibody.

IL-5 is the most selective eosinophil-active cytokine and causes maturation, activation and survival of eosinophils.

Cinqaero binds to human IL-5 and prevents it from binding to the IL-5 receptor, which helps reduce eosinophilic inflammation.

Having been recommended in NICE’s Final Appraisal Determination (FAD), the treatment can be used as an add-on therapy in adult patients with severe eosinophilic asthma that is inadequately controlled despite high-dose inhaled corticosteroids, in addition to another medicinal product for maintenance treatment.

"The future of respiratory care shows great promise, and we are proud to be at the forefront of providing innovative medications for such a patient population whose quality of life is often severely impacted by asthma."

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Global Respiratory Medicines senior vice-president and head Sven Dethlefs said: "Teva is very pleased to receive this decision by NICE as we seek to expand the availability of reslizumab (Cinqaero) globally in an effort to ensure that patients living with severe, uncontrolled asthma have access to this treatment option.

"The future of respiratory care shows great promise, and we are proud to be at the forefront of providing innovative medications for such a patient population whose quality of life is often severely impacted by asthma."

The recommendation is based on a dossier submitted to NICE for a Single Technology Appraisal (STA).

In August last year, The European Commission (EC) granted marketing authorisation for Cinqaero.