Dupilumab provides early and durable improvement of symptoms in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate within‐patient symptom improvement in the dupilumab SINUS‐24/‐52 studies in patients with severe chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) (NCT02912468/NCT02898454). METHODS: Patients received dupilumab 300 mg or placebo every 2 weeks for 24 (SINUS‐24) or 52 weeks (SINUS‐52) on background intranasal corticosteroids. Patients daily reported symptoms of nasal congestion (NC), loss of smell (LoS) and rhinorrhoea on a scale of 0–3 (0 – no symptoms, 1 – mild, 2 – moderate, 3 – severe symptoms). The proportions of patients with moderate‐to‐severe symptoms (score ≥ 2) at baseline who improved to no‐to‐mild symptoms (score ≤ 1) were determined at Weeks 2, 24 (pooled studies) and 52 (SINUS‐52). Subgroups with prior sinonasal surgery and coexisting asthma were analysed. RESULTS: At baseline in the pooled intention‐to‐treat population (n = 724), the proportions of patients with scores ≥ 2 for NC, LoS and rhinorrhoea were 87, 94 and 64%, respectively. Significantly, more patients achieved scores ≤ 1 (no/mild symptoms) with dupilumab vs placebo for each symptom at each time point {Week 2 NC 12% vs 2% [odds ratio 8.9 (95% CI 3.0–26.3)], LoS 5% vs 1% [4.6 (1.3–16.8)], rhinorrhoea 9% vs 2% [4.8 (1.5–15.4)], all P < 0.05; Week 24 NC 54% vs 14% [8.7 (5.6–13.5)], LoS 43% vs 6% [14.4 (7.9–26.0)], rhinorrhoea 53% vs 16% [6.6 (4.1–10.9)], all P < 0.0001}. Results were similar in subgroups with prior surgery and coexisting asthma. CONCLUSION: Significantly, more patients achieved improvement from moderate‐to‐severe symptoms to no‐to‐mild symptoms with dupilumab than placebo, regardless of prior surgery or coexisting asthma. Improvement was observed as early as Week 2 and continued through to Week 52.