Despite TV ads, most asthma patients don't recognize new biologic brands, but they're willing to try them, a survey finds

There’s no shortage of TV commercials extolling new biologics for asthma, but most patients who could benefit still don’t recognize the brands, a new survey from Phreesia Life Sciences found.

Sanofi and Regeneron’s Dupixent led the pack when it came to brand recall among these drugs, according to the survey. That part’s not too surprising given the $288 million the drugmakers shelled out on TV ads for the brand in 2021 (the biggest pharma TV ad spend last year).

What is surprising? Just 5% of surveyed asthma patients had heard of the heavily advertised medicine, which also treats eczema. Novartis’ competing biologic Xolair, the oldest of the bunch, fared slightly worse with 4% recognizing the brand name, while just 1% of patients had heard of GlaxoSmithKline’s Nucala or AstraZeneca’s Fasenra. 

But there’s good news for pharma: Patients are open to trying the drugs. A full 62% of surveyed asthma patients who’ve never taken a biologic said they are likely to do so. When asked why they haven’t already, 58% of severe asthma patients said they hadn’t heard about the drugs.

“There’s definitely a huge opportunity to really expand awareness of biologics as a potential treatment for these patients,” said Liz Hebert, Phreesia’s senior research manager.

While those Dupixent commercials and other TV ads do have a broad reach, they may not be resonating with moderate to severe asthma patients, who may see them but not realize "oh, this is for me," she added. Patients also may not be seeing the ads because they may be younger and not watching traditional TV.

The survey of nearly 5,600 asthma patients who were checking in for doctor appointments last September points to a need for the drugs. It found 88% of moderate and 90% of severe asthma patients have been experiencing their symptoms for three years–suggesting they could benefit from a stronger treatment. 

And two-thirds (67%) of moderate asthma patients and 90% of severe patients, said the condition negatively impacts their quality of life. 

To Hebert, that shows more patient education is needed about how the meds can better control the disease. For example, symptom trackers can help asthma patients recognize that “I shouldn’t be waking up in the middle of the night or I shouldn’t be wheezing after I go up the stairs,” and prompt them to seek a new treatment, Hebert said.

When asked what would boost their interest in a biologic, more than half of patients (56%) said they wanted more information about how the drugs work to treat asthma, followed by information about side effects (43%) and information about cost and coverage (40%).

Phreesia suggests drugmakers target resources with that information specifically to asthma patients who’ve never tried a biologic. It also recommends continued HCP education.

While 60% of patients who have used a biologic said they started treatment because their doctor recommended it, more awareness is needed to encourage patients to initiate the conversations, said Joyce Wang, Phreesia’s associate research director.

“If the patients don’t think their symptoms are severe enough and don’t bring up issues about the impact on their quality of life, their doctor will not get a cue to say ‘hey, this is something we need to discuss,’” she added. “No matter how much information they get from the manufacturers of biologics, they still depend on patients to feed them information.”