Effects of the Toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7) agonist, AZD8848, on allergen-induced responses in patients with mild asthma: a double-blind, randomised, parallel-group study

Leaker, Brian R.; Singh, Dave; Lindgren, Sam; Almqvist, Gun; Eriksson, Leif; Young, Barbara; O’Connor, Brian

A post hoc subanalysis was conducted to examine postallergen LAR average fall in FEV 1 according to baseline blood eosinophil levels recorded at visit 1. A higher proportion of patients in the AZD8848 group had eosinophil levels of < 0.3 × 10 9 /L (AZD8848 n = 19, 73% vs placebo n = 12, 48%), which was reflected in the slight difference in baseline levels (AZD8848 0.26 × 10 9 /L vs placebo 0.35 × 10 9 /L) [28] . At 1 week after the last dose average LAR fall in FEV 1 post allergen challenge was significantly reduced with AZD8848 compared with placebo in patients with baseline eosinophil levels of ≥ 0.3 × 10 9 /L (48% reduction, p = 0.0447). The cut off value for eosinophil was 0.3 × 10 9 /L based on previous publications [29, 30] . This effect was not maintained at 4 weeks post dosing. (Fig. 3 ) No significant reduction in LAR was observed in patients with baseline blood eosinophil levels of < 0.3 × 10 9 /L (2% reduction, p = 0.93) at 1 week or 4 weeks after treatment.