Prolonged benefit in the treatment of chronic idiopathic urticaria with astemizole

A double-blind clinical trial of 51 patients with chronic idiopathic urticaria using oral astemizole for 8 weeks demonstrated significant improvement in symptoms and lesions in 75% of treated patients versus 20% in the placebo group. The suppression of urticaria persisted for an average of 38 days, demonstrating the long duration of action of astemizole.