Can Asthma Medication Help Treat Hives
A drug already used to treat moderate-to-severe allergic asthma appears to offer relief to people with chronic hives who haven’t been helped by standard medications, new research suggests.
The prescription drug — omalizumab (Xolair) — is already available to treat hives, following U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval earlier this year for that use
The current study confirms that when Xolair is taken at a high dose for a six-month period it seems to be both safe and effective at controlling the severe and often debilitating itching that characterizes long-term hives
While not lethal, chronic hives can last for months, and tend to come and go without a clear idea of what brings it on
To explore Xolair’s potential, the team tested its effectiveness among more than 260 chronic hives patients for whom prior treatment had failed
Patients were randomly divided into four groups, in which they were respectively treated with a once-a-month injection of Xolair at either a 75 milligram (mg) dose, a 150 mg dose, a 300 mg dose, or a dummy shot
Tracking was conducted for both a three-month period and a six-month period
The team found that by the 12th week, people given Xolair showed a marked reduction in their overall number of hives, hive intensity and itching severity, compared with patients who got the dummy treatment. And Rosen noted that roughly 40 percent saw a complete disappearance of all symptoms, while 80 percent experienced “what we call minimally important improvement.”
Symptom relief was maintained through the six-month mark, and the authors determined that those treated with the highest (300 mg) dosage of Xolair saw the biggest improvement
Side effects were described as being mild to moderate, and included headaches, joint pain, sinus infection and reactions at the point of injection.
The study authors acknowledged that more research will be needed to see how the drug performs over longer periods of time
