UK Parliament
More than 21,000 people are currently receiving a biologic for severe asthma in England, government figures have shown.
In response to a written question submitted by Lord Kinnock regarding access to and take-up of biologic medicines for people with severe asthma on 24 August 2026, parliamentary under-secretary for health and social care Baroness Merron provided the figures based on the number of requests for either new initiation or continuation of asthma biologic treatment received between June 2025 and May 2026
A total of 21,654 people with severe asthma were receiving a biologic for the condition in England, the figures revealed.
However, pharmacists have noted the low figure compared with the number of people who are eligible for treatment.
Gráinne d’Ancona, consultant pharmacist in respiratory medicine at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The first modern biologic therapy became available to eligible patients with severe asthma in 2016 and more have been approved since.
“The central issue is the persistent national gap between the estimated 200,000 people in England who could benefit from them and those who have started treatment.
“This illustrates that NICE [National Institute for Health and Care Excellence] approval for medicines is insufficient — rather, adequately funded specialist teams, diagnostic services and clinical capacity are essential to identify eligible patients, initiate treatment and assess response.”
D’Ancona added that chronic pulmonary obstructive disease (COPD) treatment is facing a similar challenge, “where implementation of recently approved therapies has been slow because workforce and infrastructure have not kept pace”.
“The new severe asthma service specification, developed collaboratively by clinicians and NHS England, is an important step towards improving access, but the message is clear: there needs to be targeted investment in asthma and COPD services to ensure both equitable and appropriate access to these life-changing therapies,” she continued.
Darush Attar-Zadeh, a clinical fellow respiratory pharmacist with NHS West and North London integrated care board (ICB) and executive chair of the Primary Care Respiratory Society, told The Pharmaceutical Journal on 26 August 2026: “I strongly suspect that these figures substantially underrepresent the true number of patients with severe asthma, which is estimated to affect approximately 4% of people with asthma.
“Severe asthma remains uncontrolled despite optimised high-dose treatment or requires high-dose treatment to prevent it from becoming uncontrolled. It is distinct from difficult-to-treat asthma resulting from factors such as suboptimal treatment, poor adherence or unmanaged comorbidities.
“Healthcare professionals should recognise severe asthma as a distinct disease and know when to refer patients to specialist tertiary centres. The HASTE prompt can help identify potential patients: ‘High-intensity treatment, Adherence, Severe exacerbations, inhaler Technique and Exclusion’ of other conditions.”
Jonathan Blades, head of policy at Asthma + Lung UK, commented: “It is encouraging to see uptake has increased in recent years, but this figure still likely understates the real level of need. We know that about two-thirds of eligible people with severe asthma — about 37,000 people — remain untreated, with huge variations in access depending on where someone lives.
“Rates of people with severe asthma starting on biologics are around 60% in the best performing ICBs, compared to just 20% in the worst performing areas. Even after being referred to a specialist, the average waiting time before starting biologic treatment can be over a year, due to long waiting lists.
“Clear national guidance is needed to put an end to the postcode lottery of biologics treatment, ensuring these life-changing drugs are available to everyone who needs them.”
Low uptake of biologic asthma therapy led the NHS England Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC) Rapid Uptake Products programme to select asthma biologic treatment as one of four therapeutic interventions to investigate and support.
The programme began in September 2020 and focuses on optimising pathways that help with early identification of people with uncontrolled asthma, appropriate referral of patients needing further specialist input and supporting patients to self-administer their asthma biologic at home.
In her parliamentary answer, Baroness Merron said: “[Through] the £10m Respiratory Transformation Partnership, launched in March [2026], the government is working with NHS England, the Health Innovation Network, industry, and third-sector partners to improve care across asthma and COPD pathways.
“This includes earlier diagnosis, better long-term management and pathway redesign to support more consistent uptake of biologic medicines.”
