Omalizumab

Omalizumab is a recombinant humanised monoclonal antibody which specificall y binds to the C epsilon3 domain of immunoglobulin (Ig) E, the site of high -affinity IgE receptor binding. Improvements in asthma symptoms and health-related quality-of-life, and a s ignificant reduction in the frequency of asthma exacerbations were seen in allergic asthmatic patients treated with omalizumab. Omalizumab was also effective in the treatment of children with allergic as thma demonstrating improvements in health-related quality-of-life and signi ficant dosage reductions of inhaled corticosteroids. Administration of omalizumab to patients with allergic rhinitis resulted in a rapid dose-dependent suppression of serum free IgE levels. Omalizumab significantly improved health-related quality-of-life and nasal symptoms in patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis, Antihistamine require ments were also significantly reduced following treatment. Adverse events were infrequent in clinical trials of omalizumab, and not si gnificantly different from placebo, The most frequent drug-related event wa s mild to moderate urticaria.