A Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Reslizumab in Patients With Eosinophilic Asthma

Inclusion Criteria

• The patient is male or female, 12 through 75 years of age, with a previous diagnosis of asthma. Patients 12 through 17 years of age are excluded from participating in Germany, India, Argentina, and Korea; patients 66 through 75 years of age are excluded from participating in India and Korea.
• The patient has had at least 1 asthma exacerbation requiring oral, intramuscular (im), or intravenous (iv) corticosteroid use for at least 3 days over the past 12 months before screening.
• The patient has a current blood eosinophil level of at least 400/μL.
• The patient has airway reversibility of at least 12% to beta-agonist administration.
• The patient has an ACQ score of at least 1.5 5 at the screening and baseline (before the 1st dose of study drug) visits.
• The patient is taking inhaled fluticasone at a dosage of at least 440 μg, or equivalent, daily. Chronic oral corticosteroid use (no more than 10 mg/day prednisone or equivalent) is allowed. If a patient is on a stable dose, eg, 2 weeks or more of oral corticosteroid treatment at the time of study enrollment, the patient must remain on this dose throughout the study. The patient's baseline asthma therapy regimen (including, but not limited to, inhaled corticosteroids, oral corticosteroids up to a maximum dose of 10 mg prednisone daily or equivalent, leukotriene antagonists, 5-lipoxygenase inhibitors, or cromolyn) must be stable for 30 days prior to screening and baseline and must continue without dosage changes throughout the study.
• All female patients must be surgically sterile, 2 years postmenopausal, or must have a negative pregnancy test (ß-human chorionic gonadotropin [ß-HCG]) at screening (serum) and baseline (urine).
• Female patients of childbearing potential (not surgically sterile or 2 years postmenopausal), must use a medically accepted method of contraception and must agree to continue use of this method for the duration of the study and for 30 days after participation in the study. Acceptable methods of contraception include barrier method with spermicide, abstinence, intrauterine device (IUD), or steroidal contraceptive (oral, transdermal, implanted, and injected). NOTE: Partner sterility alone is not acceptable for inclusion in the study.
• Written informed consent is obtained. Patients 12 through 17 years old, where participating, must provide assent.
• The patient is in reasonable health (except for diagnosis of asthma) as judged by the investigator, and as determined by a medical history, medical examination, ECG evaluation (at screening), serum chemistry, hematology, and urinalysis.
• The patient must be willing and able to understand and comply with study restrictions, requirements, and procedures, as specified by the study center, and to remain at the study center for the required duration during the study period, and willing to return to the study center for the follow-up evaluation as specified in this protocol.
• Patients who experience an asthma exacerbation during the screening period will be considered to have failed screening and cannot be randomly assigned to study drug. Patients may be rescreened 1 time only.

Exclusion Criteria

• The patient has a clinically meaningful co-morbidity that would interfere with the study schedule or procedures, or compromise the patient's safety.
• The patient has known hypereosinophilic syndrome.
• The patient has another confounding underlying lung disorder (eg, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pulmonary fibrosis, or lung cancer). Patients with pulmonary conditions with symptoms of asthma and blood eosinophilia (eg, Churg-Strauss syndrome, allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis) will also be excluded.
• The patient is a current smoker (ie, has smoked within the last 6 months prior to screening).
• The patient is using systemic immunosuppressive, immunomodulating, or other biologic agents (including, but not limited to, anti-immunoglobulin E (IgE) mAb, methotrexate, cyclosporin, int