DOUBLE-BLIND MULTICENTER COMPARATIVE-STUDY OF EBASTINE, TERFENADINE AND PLACEBO IN THE TREATMENT OF CHRONIC IDIOPATHIC URTICARIA IN ADULTS

Ebastine is a new second generation histamine H-1 receptor antagonist that has shown clinical efficacy in the treatment of seasonal and pere nnial allergic rhinitis and chronic urticaria after once-daily adminis tration. This double-blind multicentre randomised placebo-controlled s tudy has investigated the long term efficacy of ebastine 10mg once dai ly in the treatment of chronic urticaria compared with that of terfena dine 60mg twice daily. At the end of a 3-month treatment period, ebast ine was significantly superior to placebo in improving symptoms of chr onic urticaria (including severity of itching, number of wheals per da y), and its efficacy was similar to that of terfenadine. In a global a ssessment of efficacy, investigators considered chronic urticaria to h ave improved in 73% of ebastine recipients compared with 68% and 52% o f patients treated with terfenadine or placebo, respectively. The pati ents' assessments of efficacy were similar to those of the investigato rs. Ebastine was well tolerated, the incidence and nature of adverse e vents with this agent being similar to those reported in patients trea ted with terfenadine or placebo. The most common adverse events were h eadache and dry mouth. Thus, these results, which show ebastine to be an effective and well tolerated agent, indicate that the drug should b e considered for the first-line therapy of chronic urticaria.