Omalizumab and treatment-resistant chronic spontaneous urticaria

Background and Design: Humanized monoclonal antibody omalizumab was developed for the treatment of moderate-to-severe asthma. However, recently, reports on the successful use of omalizumab in the treatment of resistant chronic urticaria are increasing in the literature. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively evaluated treatment response, adverse effects and duration of remission in 13 chronic spontaneous urticaria patients treated with omalizumab between May 2010 and January 2014. Results: In ten of the thirteen patients treated with omalizumab, urticarial lesions were suppressed and no side effects were observed. Conclusion: Our observations support the findings in the literature indicating that omalizumab is an effective and safe option in the management of treatment-resistant chronic urticaria.