Avillion announces positive high-level results from Phase III BATURA trial with AstraZeneca’s inhaled anti-inflammatory medication Airsupra in asthma patients

• Independent Data Monitoring Committee recommended trial stop early due to overwhelming efficacy at pre-planned analysis
• Phase IIIb clinical development of Airsupra was conducted by Avillion under an exclusive clinical co-development agreement with AstraZeneca
• Airsupra (albuterol/budesonide) demonstrated statistically significant and clinically meaningful reduction in risk of severe asthma exacerbations in patients with intermittent or mild persistent asthma compared to albuterol alone

London, UK, 7 October 2024 – Avillion Life Sciences Ltd (“Avillion”) announces that the ongoing BATURA Phase IIIb trial evaluating AstraZeneca’s Airsupra (albuterol/budesonide) in patients with intermittent or mild persistent asthma has delivered positive results. The trial met the primary endpoint, demonstrating a statistically significant and clinically meaningful reduction¹ in the risk of a severe exacerbation when used as an as-needed rescue medication in response to symptoms compared to as-needed albuterol.

The trial, which was conducted by Avillion under an exclusive clinical co-development agreement with AstraZeneca, included patients with intermittent or mild persistent asthma, including those on short-acting beta2-agonist (SABA) alone, low-dose inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) maintenance therapy, or leukotriene receptor antagonist (LTRA) maintenance therapy.

Asthma is a chronic, inflammatory respiratory disease with variable symptoms that affects as many as 262 million people worldwide,² including over 25 million in the US.³ Patients with mild asthma comprise at least 50% of the US asthma population and are at risk of severe exacerbations.^4,5

James Donohue, Emeritus Professor of Pulmonary Medicine, University of North Carolina and Chair, Independent Data Monitoring Committee, said: “People with asthma are at risk of severe exacerbations regardless of their disease severity or level of control. By focusing on patients with intermittent or mild persistent asthma, the strong BATURA trial results further demonstrate the clinically meaningful benefit of an anti-inflammatory rescue approach to reduce the risk of severe exacerbations by treating both symptoms and inflammation at the same time.”

Allison Jeynes, MD, Chief Executive Officer of Avillion, said: “We are thrilled with this positive outcome from the BATURA trial, which has generated truly outstanding clinical results. It is extremely gratifying to see that the hard work and dedication put into our long-term collaboration with AstraZeneca around Airsupra has proved so successful over such an extensive global clinical development programme. Our work together in bringing this new therapy to asthma patients really highlights the strong value proposition of our clinical co-development model as well as the clinical and operational excellence that our highly committed international team brings.”

The safety and tolerability of Airsupra in the BATURA trial was consistent with its established profile and no new safety concerns were reported. The data will be shared with health authorities and will be presented as a late-breaker oral presentation at the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (ACAAI) Annual Scientific Meeting on 26 October 2024.

Airsupra is the first and only anti-inflammatory rescue medication approved in the US for the as-needed treatment or prevention of bronchoconstriction and to reduce the risk of exacerbations in people with asthma aged 18 years and older.⁶ The US approval was based on results from the MANDALA and DENALI Phase III trials^7,8, which were also conducted successfully by Avillion under its clinical co-development agreement with AstraZeneca.

Airsupra is also being studied in adolescents with asthma (12 to <18 years old) in the ACADIA Phase III trial and in patients in China in the BAIYUN Phase III trial.^9,10

Sharon Barr, Executive Vice-President, BioPharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZeneca, said: “The impressive BATURA trial results add to the body of evidence supporting Airsupra as a first-in-class rescue treatment and its role in reducing the risk of asthma exacerbations in patients regardless of their disease severity and reducing the need for systemic corticosteroids.”

The full press announcement from AstraZeneca can be found by clicking here.

About the Avillion and AstraZeneca collaboration

In March 2018, Avillion and AstraZeneca signed an agreement to advance Airsupra through a global clinical development programme for the treatment of asthma. Under the terms of the agreement, Avillion became the trial sponsor responsible for executing and funding the global, multicentre clinical trial programme for Airsupra through NDA filing to a regulatory decision in the US. Following the successful approval of Airsupra, AstraZeneca is commercialising the medicine. AstraZeneca extended its agreement with Avillion in 2022 to undertake the BATURA Phase IIIb trial to further assess the role of Airsupra in reducing the risk of asthma exacerbations.  

The Airsupra clinical co-development programme was funded by Blackstone Life Sciences, Royalty Pharma and Abingworth.

Asthma

Asthma is a chronic, inflammatory respiratory disease with variable symptoms that affects as many as 262 million people worldwide,² including over 25 million in the US.³

Patients with asthma experience recurrent breathlessness and wheezing, which varies over time, and in severity and frequency.¹¹ These patients are at risk of severe exacerbations regardless of their disease severity, adherence to treatment or level of control.^12,13 There are an estimated 136 million asthma exacerbations globally per year,14  including more than 10 million in the US;³ these are physically threatening and emotionally significant for many patients15 and can be fatal.^2,16

Inflammation is central to both asthma symptoms¹² and exacerbations.¹⁷ Many patients experiencing asthma symptoms use a SABA (e.g. albuterol) as a rescue medicine;^18-20 however, taking a SABA alone does not address inflammation, leaving patients at risk of severe exacerbations,²¹ which can result in impaired quality of life,²² hospitalisation²³ and frequent oral corticosteroid (OCS) use.²³ Treatment of exacerbations with as few as 1-3 short courses of OCS are associated with an increased risk of adverse health conditions including type 2 diabetes, depression/anxiety, renal impairment, cataracts, cardiovascular disease, pneumonia and fracture.²⁴ International recommendations from the Global Initiative for Asthma no longer recommend SABA alone as the preferred rescue therapy.¹¹

BATURA 

BATURA is a Phase IIIb, US, randomised, double-blind, parallel-group, event-driven trial comparing the efficacy and safety of using inhaled albuterol/budesonide (180mcg/160mcg) as an as-needed rescue medication in response to symptoms compared to as-needed albuterol (180mcg) for up to 12 months. Patients recruited were aged 12 years and over with intermittent or mild persistent asthma and must have been using as-needed SABA alone, or as-needed SABA on a background of either low-dose ICS or LTRA maintenance therapy.²⁵

The primary efficacy endpoint was the time to first severe asthma exacerbation during the study period. Secondary endpoints included severe exacerbation rate and total systemic corticosteroid use.²⁵

Airsupra
Airsupra (albuterol/budesonide), formerly known as PT027, is a first-in-class SABA/ICS rescue treatment for asthma in the US, to be taken as needed. It is an inhaled, fixed-dose combination rescue medication containing albuterol (also known as salbutamol), a SABA, and budesonide, a corticosteroid, and has been developed in a pressurised metered-dose inhaler (pMDI) using AstraZeneca’s Aerosphere delivery technology.⁶

Outside of the US, Airsupra is also approved in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman.

About Avillion

Avillion offers pharma partners an innovative model providing clinical development expertise and funding to maximise the potential of new and existing assets. With a 100% track record, Avillion prides itself on adding value around operational expertise as we continue working on exciting clinical development projects across multiple therapy areas, focusing on accelerated clinical development delivering quality data that allow patients to access new treatments. We aim to partner on projects across all stages of clinical development where we can apply our extensive experience and knowledge to improve the chance of positive outcomes. 

Avillion was founded in 2012 by Abingworth and Blackstone Life Sciences (previously Clarus Ventures) and additional funding by Royalty Pharma.