Rare disease drug gets approval
AstraZeneca Plc has received US approval for a new indication for Fasenra (benralizumab), an antibody therapeutic originally developed for asthma and now authorised to treat eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA), a rare disease caused by inflammation of small to medium-sized blood vessels. Fasenra binds to a subunit of the interleukin-5 receptor which is predominantly expressed on human eosinophils, a type of white blood cell. Although affecting only an estimated 118,000 people globally, the disease can be fatal without treatment.