Asthma affects more than 25 million Americans and ranges from mild symptoms controlled with occasional inhaler use to severe disease requiring daily medications and frequent hospital visits. Treatment centers on inhaled corticosteroids to calm airway inflammation, plus bronchodilators to open airways during symptoms. Newer biologic drugs target specific immune pathways in people with severe asthma.
What's actually going on in research
Trials are testing biologic drugs that block different immune signals driving asthma, including IL-5, IL-4, IL-13, and TSLP pathways. Researchers are studying ways to prevent asthma in young children at high risk, testing whether early treatment can change the disease course. Other studies focus on identifying asthma subtypes through airway sampling and testing treatments matched to each person's specific inflammation pattern.
Biologic drugs for severe asthma
Drugs like dupilumab, mepolizumab, and tezepelumab target specific immune molecules. They reduce attacks and steroid use in people whose asthma doesn't respond to standard inhalers.
Early prevention studies
Trials are testing whether treating high-risk infants and toddlers with wheezing can prevent asthma from developing. Some studies use existing asthma drugs, while others test new approaches to immune system development.
Precision approaches
Researchers are sampling airways to identify inflammation types and test whether matching treatment to a person's specific pattern works better than standard care. This includes testing different biologic drugs based on blood and sputum markers.
What to know before you search
Eligibility typically depends on asthma severity, how well symptoms are controlled on current treatment, attack frequency, and sometimes blood markers showing specific types of inflammation.
What types of trials are currently open
- Biologic trials — Testing injectable drugs that target specific immune pathways. These trials often enroll people with severe asthma who still have attacks despite using inhaled steroids.
- Prevention trials — Testing whether early treatment in young children with wheezing or high asthma risk can prevent the disease from developing.
- Inhaler trials — Testing new inhaled medications or combinations, including longer-acting drugs and new delivery devices.
- Add-on treatment trials — Testing drugs taken alongside standard inhalers to improve control or reduce steroid needs.
- Observational studies — Following people with asthma over time to understand what triggers attacks, how the disease changes, and how well treatments work in real-world use.
Recently added Asthma trials
A Phase 1 Trial of AMG 691 in Healthy Chinese and Japanese Volunteers
The trial is designed to evaluate the pharmacokinetics, safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of AMG 691 in healthy Chinese and Japanese participants
Physical Activity Promotion and Clinical Remission in Severe Asthma
This study will investigate whether a structured physical activity promotion programme, delivered alongside standard treatment with tezepelumab, increases the proportion of adults with severe asthma achieving clinical remission compared with standard care alone. Although biologic therapies have improved asthma control for many people with severe asthma, many individuals remain physically inactive, experience reduced exercise tolerance, and continue to report symptoms that affect their quality of life. Physical inactivity may represent a modifiable factor that limits the achievement of optimal health outcomes. Adults with severe asthma who are starting tezepelumab as part of routine clinical care will be randomly assigned to receive either standard care alone or standard care plus a 12-week physical activity promotion programme. The programme includes an individual consultation, group behavioural support sessions, personalised goal setting, self-monitoring using a smartphone application, and strategies to help participants increase and maintain their physical activity levels. Participants will be followed for 12 months. The study will compare the proportion of participants achieving clinical remission after 12 months between the two groups. Additional outcomes include objectively measured physical activity, asthma control, quality of life and functional exercise capacity. The findings will help determine whether combining physical activity promotion with biologic therapy improves outcomes for adults with severe asthma and could inform future models of routine severe asthma care.
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