If your doctor has suggested that you take the prescription medication reslizumab (Cinqair), you might want to learn more about it and how it works. Here are answers to some common questions people have about this prescription asthma medication.
What is Reslizumab (Cinqair)?
Doctors prescribe reslizumab to treat adults with severe eosinophilic asthma. In this type of asthma, white blood cells called eosinophils multiply in the airways of your lungs. The airways swell up and get narrower, which makes it harder to breathe.
Having severe asthma means that you:
- Have symptoms like wheezing and shortness of breath throughout the day, even after taking long-acting beta-agonists and inhaled corticosteroids
- Often wake up during the night with asthma symptoms
- Need to use a rescue inhaler a few times a day
- Have trouble with everyday activities
You get reslizumab through an IV your doctor or nurse gives you once every 4 weeks. Each treatment takes 20 to 50 minutes.
How Does Reslizumab (Cinqair) Work?
Reslizumab is a monoclonal antibody. That’s a lab-made form of a protein that your immune system makes naturally. Reslizumab treats asthma by reducing the number of eosinophils in your body.
Asthma medicines come in two types:
- Maintenance or long-term control medicines you take on a routine schedule to keep asthma symptoms from happening
- Rescue medicines you take to stop an asthma attack
Reslizumab is a maintenance medicine. You shouldn’t use it as a rescue medicine. Your doctor can prescribe a short-acting inhaler for relief during asthma attacks.
This drug doesn’t replace steroid medications, either. You take reslizumab along with your other asthma medications.
What Does Reslizumab (Cinqair) Target?
Reslizumab targets interleukin-5 (IL-5), a substance your immune system makes. IL-5 helps eosinophils grow, multiply, and move into your lungs. By blocking IL-5, reslizumab lowers the number of eosinophils in your body.
What’s the Difference Between Mepolizumab (Nucala) and Reslizumab (Cinqair)?
Mepolizumab (Nucala) is another monoclonal antibody that targets IL-5. Like reslizumab, mepolizumab is a maintenance treatment for eosinophilic asthma. Both medicines come as an infusion given once every 4 weeks.
The main difference is that reslizumab is only approved to treat adults ages 18 and older. Adults and children age 12 and up can take mepolizumab.
How Well Does Reslizumab (Cinqair) Work?
In studies, reslizumab reduced the number of eosinophilic asthma attacks compared to a fake treatment (placebo). The drug also helped people's lungs work better and improved their quality of life.
Can I Stop Taking Corticosteroids While I Take Reslizumab (Cinqair)?
Don't stop taking inhaled steroids or steroid pills without talking to your doctor. Stopping steroids too quickly could make your asthma flare. Your doctor will tell you how to safely taper off your steroid medicine.
What Are the Potential Side Effects of Reslizumab (Cinqair)?
Some side effects people have had while taking reslizumab are:
- Allergic reactions
- Muscle pain or weakness
- Pain in the chest, neck, or throat
Rarely, this medication can raise your odds of getting certain cancers.
Call your doctor if you have any unusual or bothersome side effects while you take reslizumab.
Why Does Reslizumab (Cinqair) Have a Boxed Warning?
Reslizumab has a boxed warning that it can cause a severe and life-threatening allergic reaction called anaphylaxis. This reaction happens to less than 1% of people who take reslizumab.
The chance of an allergic reaction is why you have to get reslizumab at a doctor's office or medical center. The doctor or nurse who gives you reslizumab will watch for symptoms of an allergic reaction. If you do react, they’ll stop giving you the medicine and treat you for the reaction.
How Much Does Reslizumab (Cinqair) Cost?
Before insurance, reslizumab can cost more than $1,100 for each infusion. It is not available in a generic version.
Health insurance may cover some or all of the cost if you have severe eosinophilic asthma. If you don't have insurance coverage and can't afford the cost of reslizumab, you may be able to get this medication for free or at a lower price through programs offered by Teva, the company that makes it.
Who Shouldn't Take Reslizumab (Cinqair)?
Ask your doctor whether reslizumab is safe for you if:
You’re pregnant or breastfeeding. Scientists don’t have enough evidence to show that reslizumab is safe during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Monoclonal antibodies can cross the placenta. This medicine also can get into breast milk. Reslizumab has the potential to cause problems with a growing baby, especially during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy.
Your doctor will weigh the risks of having uncontrolled asthma during pregnancy against the possible risks of this medicine on your growing baby when deciding whether to prescribe it.
You have a parasitic infection. Your body needs eosinophils to fight off parasites like worms. Doctors don't know whether reslizumab might make it harder for your immune system to stop parasitic infections. So it's safest to treat the infection before you start taking reslizumab. If you get a parasitic infection while taking reslizumab, stop taking this medicine.
You’re younger than 18. Reslizumab is only approved for adults ages 18 and older. Research hasn’t proven whether the drug is safe and works well in children or teens. It might actually make asthma symptoms worse in this age group.
