Biologics may have a beneficial effect in asthma patients with COVID-19

Reply to P.A.B. Wark and co-workers:

We take the opportunity to respond to P.A.B. Wark and co-workers, and their correspondence on the subject of our recent publication [1]. It is indeed worth exploring the relationships of respiratory disease and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, and the potential mechanisms involved to understand better the pathophysiology of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and eventually consider new treatments. However, based on others and our own observations, we disagree with the statement that use of Th2 targeting biologics in patients with asthma may increase susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection due to an increased expression of ACE2. The results in table 3 of our manuscript [1] with biologics (omalizumab n=641, mepolizumab n=308, benralizumab n=98, reslizumab n=26) point to a beneficial effect in asthmatics with COVID-19, as suggested elsewhere [2].

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