Persis pharmaceuticals, a clinical-stage biotechnology company based in Wembley, UK, in collaboration with AstraZeneca, has announced the successful completion of the safety review of part 1a of a multi-center, placebo-controlled phase 2a study of dry powder inhaler PRS-060/AZD1402. The company announced that the dry powder inhaler is an IL-4 receptor alpha inhibitor for the treatment of asthma. As part of the 1a trials, 31 asthma patients received PRS-060/AZD1402 twice daily over four weeks to establish the safety profile and pharmacokinetics of the dry powder formulation. The trial revealed lesser incidence of adverse events and increased forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) in the cohort treated with the dry powder inhaler as compared to the standard-of-care treatment.