[The add-on effect of omalizumab on patients with uncontrolled bronchial asthma]

A high-dose administration of inhaled corticosteroid is effective in the majority of patients with bronchial asthma, but is often difficult to attain sufficient control in certain subsets of patients. Omalizumab has recently emerged as a promising drug for bronchial asthma. To assess its add-on effect we administered omalizumab to patients with uncontrolled atopic asthma for more than 16 weeks and gave them questionnaires. The study population comprised 9 patients with frequent asthmatic symptoms despite the administration of high-dose inhaled corticosteroid and other disease controllers. We scored disease control using the Asthma Health Questionnaire-33-Japan and the Asthma Control Test, and evaluated the frequencies of short-acting beta2-agonist use for rescue and drip infusion of theophyllines and/or systemic steroids in a retrospective fashion. Asthmatic scores were significantly improved after 16 weeks of omalizumab therapy. The frequencies of reliever use and drip infusion were also decreased. These trends were present even in patients in whom no aeroallergen-specific IgE antibodies were detected. No statistically significant side effects were observed. Our study confirmed the add-on effect of omalizumab based on evaluation by simple questionnaires. Further studies are needed to clarify whether omalizumab therapy is suitable for patients without specific IgE antibodies.