Trial could unlock asthma use for GSK’s Trelegy

GlaxoSmithKline CEO Emma Walmsley has been predicting big things for respiratory triple therapy Trelegy in the next couple of years and has new data that could open up a new market.

Top-line results from the CAPTAIN study have shown that Trelegy (fluticasone furoate/umeclidinium/vilanterol) works better than GSK’s two-drug combo Relvar/Breo (fluticasone furoate/vilanterol) at improving lung function in patients living with uncontrolled asthma who struggle to breathe.

The results aren’t all positive – Trelegy wasn’t able to improve on Relvar/Breo when it came to reducing asthma exacerbations and two other doses of Trelegy didn’t perform better than the two-drug regimen on lung function scores.

Nevertheless, GSK R&D chief Hal Barron thinks the triple therapy is still on track for a regulatory filing in uncontrolled asthma once the full dataset is available, and that could extend Trelegy’s indications beyond its current use in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).