Frequently asked questions

NUCALA treats severe eosinophilic asthma in people who are 12 and older. It's a prescription medicine your doctor adds to your other asthma medicines for maintenance, not for sudden breathing problems.

If you and your specialist decide to add NUCALA to your severe asthma treatment, it can help you:

• Prevent severe asthma attacks. Studies show NUCALA reduced the number of severe asthma attacks by more than half
• Reduce the need for oral steroids. NUCALA is NOT a steroid. In fact, it helps reduce your use of steroids like prednisone while maintaining asthma control
• Reduce ED visits and/or hospitalisations and the disruptions they cause
• Improve quality of life

Your results may vary.

If you're asthma is still uncontrolled even with your current high-dose daily medicines, you may not be treating one of the key causes of your kind of asthma: eosinophils. NUCALA is for severe eosinophilic asthma, so it's designed to target eosinophils. If your doctor has given you a blood test and diagnosed you with severe eosinophilic asthma, NUCALA may significantly reduce severe asthma attacks and your use of oral corticosteroids, like prednisone. Together, you and your doctor will decide if adding NUCALA to your other asthma medicines is right for you.

No. NUCALA works with your current asthma medication to reduce your asthma attacks. Don’t make any changes in your severe asthma treatment without asking your asthma specialist.

NUCALA can cause serious side effects, including:

• Allergic (hypersensitivity) reactions, including anaphylaxis. Serious allergic reactions can happen after you get your NUCALA injection. Allergic reactions can sometimes happen hours or days after you get a dose of NUCALA. Tell your healthcare provider or get emergency help right away if you have any of the following symptoms of an allergic reaction:

• swelling of your face, mouth, and tongue
• breathing problems
• fainting, dizziness, feeling lightheaded (low blood pressure)
• rash
• hives

• Herpes zoster infections that can cause shingles have happened in people who receive NUCALA.

The most common side effects of NUCALA include: headache, injection site reactions (pain, redness, swelling, itching, or a burning feeling at the injection site), back pain, and tiredness (fatigue).

Before receiving NUCALA, tell your doctor about all of your medical conditions, including if you:

• Are taking oral or inhaled corticosteroid medicines. Do not stop taking your other asthma medicines, including your corticosteroid medicines, unless instructed by your healthcare provider because this may cause other symptoms to come back
• Have a parasitic (helminth) infection
• Are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. It is not known if NUCALA may harm your unborn baby
• Are breastfeeding or plan to breastfeed. You and your healthcare provider should decide if you will use NUCALA and breastfeed. You should not do both without talking with your healthcare provider first
• Are taking prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements

Doctors consider your asthma severe if you take daily high-dose asthma medicines and have a history of severe asthma attacks (which are also called exacerbations). These attacks may have required steroids like prednisone, and you may have gone to the ED or been hospitalized to treat them. The more asthma attacks you've had, the more likely you are to have asthma attacks in the future. That's why it's important to talk to your doctor about what may be causing your severe asthma, so you can work together to make it better controlled.

Eosinophils [ee-uh-sin-uh-fils] are white blood cells that are a normal part of your immune system. When there are too many of them in your blood, they can worsen inflammation in your lungs. They are a key cause of severe eosinophilic asthma and can increase your risk for severe asthma attacks.

Your doctor will be able to help you with any more questions you might have.

You or your caregiver should inject a dose of NUCALA as soon as you remember. Then, continue (resume) your injection on your regular dosing schedule. If you do not notice that you have missed a dose until it is time for your next scheduled dose, then just inject the next scheduled dose as planned. If you are not sure what to do, ask your doctor, pharmacist, or nurse.

Store in the refrigerator between 2°C to 8°C. Keep in the original carton until time of use to protect from light. Do not freeze. Do not shake. Keep away from heat. If needed, an unopened carton can be stored outside the refrigerator at up to 30°C for up to 7 days. Safely throw away the pre-filled pen if the unopened carton is left out of the refrigerator for more than 7 days.

Pre-filled pens must be used within 8 hours after you take them out of the carton. Safely throw away if not used within 8 hours.

Keep NUCALA and all medicines out of the reach of children.

Store in the refrigerator between 2°C to 8°C. Keep in the original carton until time of use to protect from light. Do not freeze. Do not shake. Keep away from heat. If necessary, an unopened carton can be stored outside the refrigerator at up to 30°C for up to 7 days. Safely throw away the pre-filled pen if the unopened carton is left out of the refrigerator for more than 7 days.

Pre-filled pens must be used within 8 hours after you take them out of the carton. Safely throw away if not used within 8 hours.

Keep NUCALA and all medicines out of the reach of children.

Do not use the pre-filled pen.

Contact GSK at 0800 808 500.

Do not use the pre-filled pen.

Contact GSK for more information at 0800 808 500.

You may change (rotate) the site (thigh or abdomen) or move the pre-filled pen as long as you have not started pressing down. If a caregiver is administering your injection you may also choose the upper-arm injection site. When the yellow needle guard is pressed, your injection will start right away.

This prevents the medicine from drying in the needle. It could affect how much medicine you get.

If this happens, you may not have received your full dose. Contact GSK for more information at 0800 808 500.

Do not use the pre-filled pen more than once. Throw away the pre-filled pen in an sharps disposal container after your injection.

Do not share the pre-filled pen with other people. You may give other people a serious infection, or you may get a serious infection from them.

Do not use the pre-filled pen. Contact GSK at 0800 808 500.

Do not use the pre-filled pen. Contact GSK at 0800 808 500.