Clinical remission maintained and improved over time in patients with severe asthma treated with omalizumab

Clinical remission has recently been proposed as a possible treatment goal even in severe asthma. In this real-world study, we aimed to assess the achievement rate and predictive factors of clinical remission using omalizumab in patients with severe asthma.

This retrospective observational study included patients with severe asthma initiated with omalizumab therapy and recruited from the asthma clinic of the Akdeniz University Hospital, Turkey. Clinical remission was defined as patients who received no oral corticosteroid (OCS) therapy; showed no exacerbations; showed an asthma control questionnaire score of ≤ 1, asthma control test (ACT) of ≥ 20, or both and, FEV₁ of ≥ 80% predicted.

A total of 58 patients were included in the study, with an average age of 56.4 ± 13.6 years. The mean duration of asthma was 23.5 ± 11.8 years and the mean duration of omalizumab treatment was 80.05 ± 35.04 months. Clinical remission rates were 25.9% in the first and second year, 34.0% in the third year, 34.1% in the fourth year and 47.4% in the fifth year. Pre-omalizumab ACT, FEV1 (%) and OCS use were significantly higher in patients with clinical remission at 1 year. Logistic regression analyses showed that none of the factors predicted clinical remission.

Omalizumab has the potential to induce disease remission in a significant proportion of people with severe asthma, and this is maintained and improved over time.