Combination of omalizumab and specific immunotherapy is superior to immunotherapy in patients with seasonal allergic rhinoconjunctivitis and co‐morbid seasonal allergic asthma

Abstract

Combination of omalizumab with SIT for treatment of patients with SAR and co-morbid SAA was safe and reduced the symptom load in a statistically significant and clinically meaningful manner.

Asthma-related comorbidities

“…Meta-analyses show that this treatment could be beneficial in pollen-induced rhinitis and asthma, but state that more investigations are needed to determine its efficacy in house dust mite allergy [70]. Recent studies found that adding anti-IgE therapy to SIT was significantly better at reducing symptoms of both seasonal allergic rhinitis [71] and asthma when compared with SIT alone [72], in addition to providing greater safety in adults as well as in children [73]. However, many guidelines consider SIT as a marginal treatment for asthma, although it is suggested for the types of allergic rhinitis mentioned earlier.…”

Emerging therapies for food allergy

“…In conjunction with s.c. injection using aeroallergens, omalizumab improved the tolerability of dose escalation while retaining and perhaps improving the long-lasting benefits of immunotherapy (83)(84)(85)(86)(87). Two small, uncontrolled studies of omalizumab combined with rush food oral immunotherapy, where dose escalation was performed at a more rapid pace than usual using either peanut or milk, have recently been published.…”

Monoclonal antibodies and other biologic agents in the treatment of asthma

“…71,72 Recent studies have demonstrated efficacy of omalizumab in patients with more severe asthma, and in pooled analyses of several large clinical trials, omalizumab significantly reduced asthma exacerbations (by 38%), emergency department visits (by 61%) and hospital admissions (by 52%) and unscheduled doctor visits (by 47%) when compared to control subjects. 73,74 Omalizumab has also been studied as a treatment for other allergic diseases including allergic rhinoconjunctivitis, 75,76 as adjunctive therapy with allergen immunotherapy, 77,78 and as a treatment for chronic urticaria and angioedema, [79][80][81][82] atopic dermatitis, 83,84 allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis, 85,86 Churg-Stauss syndrome 87,88 and latex allergy. 89 Further study is ongoing; none of these conditions are approved indications for use of this drug.…”