Upstream Bio pulls in COPD readout for verekitug by six months
The Phase 2 VENTURE trial's primary completion date moved to October 2027 from April 2028, tightening the timeline for the first placebo-controlled test of verekitug outside asthma.
Executive Summary
- Upstream Bio pulled forward the primary completion date of its Phase 2 COPD trial of verekitug, the second acceleration to the timeline since the study began enrolling.
- The trial is a placebo-controlled study of whether blocking the TSLP receptor reduces COPD exacerbations, an endpoint distinct from the asthma and rhinosinusitis settings where the drug has prior data.
- Enrollment has held flat at its target and the trial is no longer recruiting, so the earlier completion date reflects timeline compression rather than a change in trial size.
- Verekitug is the only TSLPR-directed program running in COPD, a field otherwise populated by other cytokine-pathway antibodies that have not yet secured approval in this indication.
The registry change
Upstream Bio Inc. updated the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT06981078, the Phase 2 VENTURE trial of verekitug in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), moving the primary completion date to October 1, 2027, from April 1, 2028. It is the second acceleration to that date: the trial's completion target had already moved to April 2028 from an original April 2029 in October 2025. Combined, the two changes have pulled the primary completion date in by 548 days from its original registration. NCT06981078A Study to Assess the Efficacy and Safety of Verekitug in Participants With COPDNCT06981078
Probability of SuccessBased on the AppliedXL Probability of Success model. For more information about the methodology, read the research here.
What the trial tests
VENTURE is a randomized, quadruple-masked, three-arm study testing verekitug, a subcutaneously dosed monoclonal antibody that blocks the TSLP receptor (TSLPR), against placebo in 666 current or former smokers with moderate-to-severe COPD on background triple inhaled therapy. The primary endpoint is the annualized rate of moderate or severe COPD exacerbations, measured from baseline through Week 108. Secondary endpoints include lung-function change on FEV1, patient-reported symptom burden on the St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire, and treatment-emergent adverse events through Week 112. NCT06981078A Study to Assess the Efficacy and Safety of Verekitug in Participants With COPDNCT06981078
Enrollment and status
The trial closed enrollment and moved to Active, not recruiting status in June 2026, after opening to enrollment in June 2025. Its target enrollment of 666 patients has not changed since registration, a flat enrollment trajectory that the operational model reads as typical for a trial of this design and phase. Upstream Bio disclosed in an earlier update that the study had passed 60% enrollment while still recruiting, consistent with a trial that filled on its original schedule rather than one cut down in size. NCT06981078+1A Study to Assess the Efficacy and Safety of Verekitug in Participants With COPDNCT06981078A Study to Assess the Efficacy and Safety of Verekitug in Participants With COPDJul 20, 2026
The competitive setting
Verekitug is the only TSLPR-targeted trial active in COPD, with no peer program sharing its target in this indication. The drug's closest comparator is its own Phase 2 asthma trial, also run by Upstream Bio. In COPD specifically, other antibodies targeting adjacent type-2 inflammatory pathways are in later-stage testing: AstraZeneca's tezepelumab, which also targets TSLP itself rather than its receptor, is in a Phase 3 COPD trial, and GlaxoSmithKline's depemokimab and Sanofi's lunsekimig are both in Phase 3 COPD programs targeting interleukin-5 and interleukin-13 respectively. None of those programs has secured approval in COPD, leaving verekitug's Phase 2 readout as an early test of whether TSLP-pathway blockade, one step upstream of the receptor rather than the ligand, can reduce exacerbations in a population already on standard triple inhaled therapy. NCT06966479
Readthrough
Because verekitug and tezepelumab converge on the same signaling axis from different points, TSLP versus its receptor, a positive COPD signal for either could bear on how the field reads TSLP-pathway inhibition generally, even though the two drugs are not head-to-head comparators. Upstream Bio's own asthma and rhinosinusitis programs for verekitug provide the sponsor's nearest track record: the company has run four completed trials in obstructive airway disease with no terminations on record. That track record, combined with a trial that filled on schedule and is now tracking to an earlier completion date, points to operational execution rather than to a trial in distress. NCT06981078A Study to Assess the Efficacy and Safety of Verekitug in Participants With COPDNCT06981078
This analysis was produced using AI-assisted reporting systems, AppliedXL data, and official public records. These systems undergo editorial review, quality checks, and regular audits by human experts. Errors may still occur, as with any automated system. Always consult the linked primary sources. Read our AI Editorial Policy.