Anti-IgE Tx cuts asthma exacerbations: Omalizumab.(Clinical Rounds)

NEW ORLEANS -- The anti-IgE therapy omalizumab reduces the rate of significant asthma exacerbations by as much as 60% in patients also using standard therapies, according to data presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology.

Omalizumab (Xolair) was approved in the United States last year for use by adults and adolescents aged 12 years and older with moderate to severe persistent asthma who have a positive skin test or in vitro reactivity to a perennial aeroallergen and whose symptoms are inadequately controlled with inhaled corticosteroids.

In a 1-year open-label study, researchers randomized 312 patients aged …