Is anyone using Dupixent for COPD?

You are very, very fortunately. I have seriously been thinking of re-locating to NC just for the medical care alone, but have found that the wait time for appt can be just as lengthy. My issue is that I do no have any faith in the Medical Care where I am. Very few leave this area for their education and will go to Med school, internship, Residency and Fellowship at the same institution. That leaves absolutely no opportunity for professional exposure to anyone outside the State. I think that it should be a requirement that residency/fellowship be done outside the State.....the teachings are redundant year after year.

My Mayo Pulmonologist recently referred me to a Mayo Allergist/Immunologist. I'm stage 3 COPD. It appears that Dupixent will most likely be approved by the FDA at the end of this month for use with COPD patients specifically. However, as it was explained to me, there will be certain criteria that must be met to qualify for it. It appears that I have met the criteria. Once it is officially approved, they will seek approval for me to start on this. Looking forward to having another option that could improve my quality of life.

what is it? I have never heard of it.

Dupixent is a mono-clonal antibody from the Pharm Sanofi and Regeneron. It has many indicators for use and has just recently been approved for COPD patients, prior was for patients with eosinophilic asthma. It primarily significantly decreases the secretions. I started on it in Nov. 2023 with excellent results. What does currently have me puzzled is that the benefit has seemed to wan over the past 6 months and I am wondering whether I have developed antibodies to it. It is administered per injection subcutaneously every 2 weeks. Keep in touch with your pulmonologist for possible treatment options.

I was prescribed Dupixent 3 years ago for asthma and eczema. It improved both conditions.

However last summer I had an adverse event reaction reported to Dupixent by my eye doctors office ( eyes burning to dilation eyedrops and other eye drops).

I chose to discontinue the Dupixent injections.

My eyes, despite receiving an RX of steroid eye drops , continued to burn when I used over the counter eyedrops for weeks after. My eyes had been dry for some time before the After cataract surgical procedure which had necessitated dilating my eyes .

I elected not to continue taking it, although both the skin doctor and eye doctor said I could go back on Dupuxent if it was helping.

"eye" issues have been a hallmark complaint with Dupixent users....all the way from blurry vision, dry eyes and keratitis. As a physician and patient, we need to decide whether the side-effects/risks outweigh the benefits.

I agree. Having had the reaction last past the treatment was a factor.
My career was spent working as a teacher for Blind and Visually Impaired Students.

So naturally I have a strong desire to do my utmost to protect my eye health from injury.

I as well! As I have only one eye. The other (right eye), the lid will not raise.....Had a brain tumor 35 years ago and had a neuro doc let his ego drive his desire to excise it having no idea what kind of tumor it was - only knowing it was benign! He should have sent me to a higher level of care with more expert physicians and a large facility! So I guard my left eye very carefully. I go to the ophthalmologist almost monthly since being on the Dupixent.....biggest issue so far has been a bit of blurry vision and dry eye. So we shall see!

My lungs docs have conferred and agreed that I need to try adding SOMETHING to help reduce my COPD exacerbations. I have been having 1-6/year except during the years we hibernated due to COVID. Additionally, I have chronic asthma and allergies and high eosinophil levels. I am hoping it will work well for me without making my dry eyes worse. I have had dry eyes since I turned 40 and had to stop wearing contact lenses. I have had to stop taking the higher dose Spiriva (tiotropium bronide) and switch to the lower asthma dose because the higher dose caused me to have painfully dry eyes and mouth—5 cavities in 6 months!

Anyway, I believe my doc will start me on this as soon as he can get my pre-authorization approved for it. He originally wanted to try starting me on Fasenra but the other lung doc that also consults on my case highly recommended Dupixent because it is approved for Asthma/COPD/high eosinophil and also is supposed to help improved lung function and reduce frequency and severity of exacerbations.
I understand it’s an auto-injection, similar to Epi-pens but needs to be taken every 2 weeks. (My local lung doc was attracted to Fasenra because it only needs to be taken every 8 weeks after initial shorts. It didn’t show improvement for COPD, so my other lung doc said it was her last choice.)

Dupixent did wonders for me until about 3 months ago. Don't know what happened, neither do the pulmonologist.....perhaps I developed antibodies. Have not bee able to speak to anyone from Regeneron or the dispensing Pharmacy re their thoughts about the change in effectiveness. I hope it works well for you!