%0 Journal Article
%T Long-term benefits of omalizumab in a patient with severe non-allergic asthma
%A Francesco Menzella
%A Roberto Piro
%A Nicola Facciolongo
%A Claudia Castagnetti
%A Anna Simonazzi
%A Luigi Zucchi
%J Allergy, Asthma & Clinical Immunology
%D 2011
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1710-1492-7-9
%X We studied a 52-year-old man who has been suffering from severe non allergic steroid-resistant asthma with increased levels of total IgE and a lot of comorbidity. After a 3 years long treatment with omalizumab, he presented a significant improvement in disease control in terms of hospitalizations, exacerbation, quality of life and lung function with good safety profile.Our case shows, after a long follow-up, how omalizumab can be effective in a severe form of non-atopic asthma. It is therefore hoped that further studies can identify indicators that are able to give to clinicians information about patients who can be responsive to monoclonal anti-IgE antibody even if non allergic.Patients with severe asthma often have a poor control of their disease; they represent the subgroup that absorbs most of the costs [1,2]; for these reasons it has given rise to the need to get new drugs able to improve control. The only biological drug available for the treatment of severe asthma is omalizumab. A number of clinical trials have been performed in order to evaluate either the efficacy or the safety of the above-mentioned drug: the results showed that this molecule is able to significantly improve asthma control and quality of life, with an excellent safety profile [3-5].Actually, as set by the European Medicine Agency (EMA) [6] and GINA Guidelines [7], in Europe omalizumab is indicated as an add-on therapy aimed at improving asthma control in adult and adolescent patients (12 years of age and above) with severe persistent allergic asthma who have a positive skin test or in vitro reactivity to a perennial aeroallergen and who show reduced lung function (FEV1 <80%) as well as frequent daytime symptoms or night-time awakenings and who have had multiple documented severe asthma exacerbations despite daily high-dose inhaled corticosteroids, plus a long-acting inhaled beta2-agonist. This treatment option is limited to patients with baseline IgE level of 30 to 1.500 IU/ml and body wei
%U http://www.aacijournal.com/content/7/1/9