Omalizumab in chronic urticaria: a retrospective series of 15 cases

Omalizumab is a monoclonal anti-IgE antibody approved for the treatment of severe allergic asthma. There is increasing evidence in the literature of its usefulness in chronic urticaria. Herein, we report a retrospective case series of 15 patients with chronic idiopathic urticaria treated with omalizumab. We reviewed their medical records to assess the improvement achieved after 3 and 6 months of treatment. Complete response was defined as symptom disappearance that could be followed by discontinuation of antihistamines, and partial response as symptom improvement, but with symptom worsening when attempting to discontinue antihistamines. After 3 months of treatment, 12 patients responded, with partial response in 9 and complete response in 3. At 6 months, 8 of 10 patients continuing on omalizumab had a complete response and 2 a partial response. The results of the present retrospective series show the effectiveness of omalizumab in most treated patients, which is consistent with other recently published series and studies. These data support its role in the management of patients with chronic urticaria refractory to conventional treatments.