title: Omalizumab: what benefits should we expect?
abstract: Chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) is a skin disease characterised by wheal appearance, swelling, itching, and painful skin. Omalizumab has been used for CSU treatment demonstrating good efficacy. To investigate the efficacy and safety of omalizumab treatment in CSU patients in real-life practice. A retrospective analysis was performed on 38 patients suffering from CSU who received 300 mg of omalizumab every four weeks. After omalizumab treatment, 68.4% of patients showed a complete response (UAS7 = 0). All the patients were able to stop treatment with corticosteroids, cyclosporine, and anti-leukotrienes, and only 39.5% of patients remained on anti-histamines. Omalizumab treatment led to a 96% and 65% decrease in emergency room and primary health care visits, respectively, as well as a reduction in the direct costs associated with the disease. No omalizumab-related adverse events were reported. Omalizumab exhibits good efficacy in alleviating the symptoms of CSU, leads to a decrease in concomitant medication use, restores patients' quality of life, and has economic benefits by reducing disease-related health care costs.
authors.affiliation: Dermatology Department, Hospital del Mar, Barcelona.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Giménez-Arnau
authors.affiliation: Dermatology Department, Hospital Arnau de Vilanova, Valencia.
authors.forename: Manel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Velasco
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical and Clinical Dermatology and Venerology, Hospital Universitario de Puerto Real, Cádiz.
authors.forename: Jose Carlos
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Armario Hita
authors.affiliation: Allergy Section, Internal Medicine Department, Hospital Vall d'Hebron, Barcelona.
authors.forename: Moises
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Labrador-Horrillo
authors.affiliation: Dermatology Department, Hospital General Universitario de Alicante, Alicante, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan Francisco
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Silvestre Salvador
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D018926:Anti-Allergic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009819:Office Visits; D000069444:Omalizumab / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014581:Urticaria / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000191:economics
chemical_list: D018926:Anti-Allergic Agents; D000069444:Omalizumab
keywords: chronic urticaria; efficacy; health care; omalizumab; safety