Sonali Bose, MD: Reducing Corticosteroids and Type 2 Asthma Inflammation

In the QUEST and VENTURE study results presented at the 2018 American Thoracic Society (ATS) International Conference in San Diego, CA, last week, researchers lauded metrics which showed dupilumab (Dupixent) significantly reduced independence from oral corticosteroids (OCS) in patients with uncontrolled asthma.

Indeed, a large conversation piece held at ATS pertained to therapy regimens that could relieve the burden of OCS from patients with asthma. This conversation more particularly applies to pediatric patients, Sonali Bose, MD, told MD Magazine.

Bose, an assistant professor at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, said OCS has been linked to harmful growth-related adverse effects, and comorbid asthma conditions such as diabetes and heart disease. She called the ATS rhetoric a “fantastic” address of a chronically understood issue.

“Anything we can do to minimize the steroid burden on patients with diabetes is welcome,” Bose said.

Another focal point in progressive asthma care — not just at ATS, but in the field itself — is in the treatment of type 2 inflammation. Due to asthma being a heterogeneous disease, Bose said clinicians cannot afford to adopt a “one size fits all” approach to a condition that fluctuates in its response to immunotherapy.

Individual factors, such as age or race, and how they influence therapies are yet to be understood. Perhaps they will be the headline conversations of next year’s ATS meeting.

“I think we’ll see in the next few years a more personalized approach to try to understand which patients will have the most benefit with these targeted therapies,” Bose said.