Abstract Rationale Study exit interviews can provide robust patient feedback on symptoms and treatment experiences, beyond patient-reported outcome endpoints assessed in clinical trials. Exit interviews were conducted during the phase 4 PASSAGE study (NCT05329194), which assessed the effectiveness and safety of tezepelumab in a diverse, real-world US population of patients with severe, uncontrolled asthma. Methods PASSAGE enrolled 286 adults and adolescents with severe, uncontrolled asthma across multiple asthma phenotypes and clinical subgroups. All participants received tezepelumab 210 mg every 4 weeks for up to 52 weeks. All participants who completed or discontinued the study were eligible to participate in a voluntary virtual 45-minute interview with a trained interviewer in the 3 months after their final study visit. A total of 51 participants were selected using targeted sampling to reflect PASSAGE’s demographic and clinical subgroup distribution. The interviews surveyed participants’ asthma signs, symptoms and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) before and after PASSAGE, and participants’ experiences with tezepelumab during the study. Results All 51 invited participants completed an exit interview (mean age, 57 years; 73% female; 49 had completed the study, 2 had discontinued early). Before tezepelumab treatment, 22 different asthma-related symptoms were reported; shortness of breath (n = 49, 96.1%), coughing (n = 37, 72.5%), wheezing (n = 36, 70.6%) and chest tightness (n = 13, 25.5%) were the most frequent. Common patient-reported asthma triggers included allergies (n = 36, 70.6%) and environmental factors (n = 22, 43.1%). Almost all participants (n = 49/51, 96.1%) reported improvements (reduced frequency, duration, intensity and/or impact) in at least one symptom following treatment; chest tightness (n = 12/13, 92.3%), coughing (n = 31/37, 83.8%), shortness of breath (n = 40/49, 81.6%) and wheezing (n = 26/36, 72.2%) were the most common (Figure). Participants reported improvements in physical function (n = 39/49, 79.6%), sleep (n = 30/42, 71.4%), emotional function (n = 31/44, 70.5%) and social life (n = 24/35, 68.6%) HRQoL domains (Figure). Mean satisfaction ratings were 9.0 or higher out of 10 for treatment administration method (n = 50), impact on HRQoL (n = 48), symptom relief (n = 51) and overall satisfaction (n = 51). Nearly all participants (n = 50, 98.0%) would recommend tezepelumab to other patients with asthma; most (n = 43, 84.3%) said it met or exceeded expectations. Few participants reported unmet expectations due to limited relief (n = 4, 7.8%), or withheld judgment (n = 4, 7.8%). Conclusions Patient exit interviews provided novel perspectives on participants’ experiences with tezepelumab. Nearly all participants reported symptom improvements and most experienced enhanced HRQoL. A high proportion reported positive perceptions of tezepelumab and its effectiveness, underscoring its potential value for patients with severe, uncontrolled asthma. This abstract is funded by: AstraZeneca and Amgen
Sumino et al. (Fri,) studied this question.