5 Pulmonology Headlines You Missed in November 2025

November delivered a wave of advances across asthma, COPD, and related inflammatory airway diseases, reflecting the accelerating shift toward precision medicine in respiratory care. New data showed pulmonary rehabilitation’s unexpected anti-inflammatory impact in asthma—particularly a 40% FeNO reduction among patients who began PR with high levels—while an open-label extension of tezepelumab demonstrated substantial steroid-sparing benefits, with nearly all OCS-dependent patients tapering to 5 mg or less and half discontinuing steroids entirely. The month also brought promising phase 2b results for rezpegaldesleukin, an IL-2 receptor pathway agonist that improved both atopic dermatitis and asthma control, underscoring its potential as a dual-benefit therapy for patients with overlapping disease.

Alongside these trial updates, expert discussions at CHEST 2025 and a recent HCPLive clinical forum highlighted the practical realities of implementing targeted therapies for asthma and COPD. Nicola Hanania, MD, MS, emphasized the growing importance of biomarkers such as blood eosinophils and FeNO in navigating an increasingly crowded biologic landscape, while Meilan Han, MD, and colleagues examined how real-world factors—including payer barriers, clinician familiarity, and multidisciplinary coordination—are shaping biologic adoption in COPD.

Check out this November 2025 pulmonology month in review for a recap of HCPLive’s coverage of the top news and research from the past few weeks:

1. Pulmonary Rehabilitation Reduces Type 2 Inflammation in High Inflammation Asthma

Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) was shown to meaningfully reduce airway inflammation in people with asthma who began treatment with elevated FeNO, with the high-FeNO group experiencing a 40% drop in levels during the 3-week program. Improvements in asthma control and exercise capacity occurred across all baseline FeNO categories, but the anti-inflammatory effect was exclusive to those with high initial FeNO.

2. Tezepelumab Drastically Reduces OCS Use for Asthma in Open-Label Trial

Nearly all patients with severe, OCS-dependent asthma in the WAYFINDER trial were able to lower their daily steroid dose to 5 mg or less after 52 weeks of open-label tezepelumab, and half fully discontinued OCS while maintaining asthma control. These improvements were consistent across inflammatory subgroups, though the absence of a control arm makes the magnitude of benefit harder to interpret.

3. Rezpegaldesleukin Shows Strong Phase 2b Results for Atopic Dermatitis, Asthma

Rezpegaldesleukin, an IL-2 receptor pathway agonist, improved both atopic dermatitis severity and asthma control in the phase 2b REZOLVE-AD trial, with the highest dose (24 μg/kg every 2 weeks) delivering the strongest skin responses. Patients with comorbid asthma also saw meaningful improvements, including clinically significant ACQ-5 reductions in 75% of those with uncontrolled asthma at baseline.

4. The Asthma and COPD Precision Medicine Era, with Nicola A. Hanania, MD, MS

Nicola A. Hanania, MD, MS, professor of medicine and director of the Asthma Clinical Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine, discussed some of the sessions and data presentations from CHEST 2025 that speak to these latest innovations in asthma and COPD. He highlighted the expanding role of targeted therapies, the difficulties clinicians face in selecting among six asthma biologics, and the growing importance of biomarkers such as blood eosinophils and FeNO in guiding therapy.

5. Personalized COPD Treatment: Lessons from Biologic Trials and Clinical Practice

At a recent HCPLive clinical forum led by Meilan Han, MD, clinicians reviewed new biologic data alongside the evolving framework for identifying the right biologic candidates through biomarkers such as blood eosinophil counts. Faculty also discussed real-world considerations shaping the adoption of biologics, noting differing comfort levels among clinicians, the need for payer navigation, and the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration to integrate these therapies into routine COPD care.