AstraZeneca's Tezspire Scores Big in Late-Stage Oesophagus Trial

AstraZeneca has announced positive results from a late-stage trial of its asthma drug Tezspire, which significantly reduced inflammation in the oesophagus and eased difficulty in swallowing in patients with eosinophilic esophagitis. The condition affects over 470,000 people in the United States.

The study showed that Tezspire met the main goals of the trial at 52 weeks, outperforming a placebo in reducing inflammation and alleviating symptoms. This is a significant development for AstraZeneca, which has faced setbacks in its pipeline with several trial failures and regulatory rejections.

Tezspire was developed in collaboration with Amgen and has already generated $1.13 billion in sales for AstraZeneca and $1.48 billion for Amgen in 2025. The drug is a monoclonal antibody that targets the protein TSLP, which can trigger inflammation in conditions driven by eosinophils.

AstraZeneca's CEO Pascal Soriot has expressed confidence in the company's pipeline, citing up to 20 new drug launches as key to reaching its target of $80 billion in annual sales by 2030. However, investors remain cautious, with AstraZeneca's shares down 14% since the recent trial failure of nerve disease drug Wainua.