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Chronic urticaria (CU), almost-daily occurrence of hives for longer than 6 weeks, affects 1% of the population and rarely has an allergic etiology. Antihistamines, the mainstay of therapy, often do not afford complete relief. As many as 50% of CU patients have possibly pathogenic autoantibodies against IgE receptors on mast cells and basophils. In this industry-funded randomized trial, researchers assessed whether omalizumab (Xolair), a monoclonal antibody that inactivates free IgE and down-regulates surface IgE receptors, was efficacious in 90 patients with moderate-to-severe CU despite antihistamine monotherapy. Patients received either single injections of placebo or one of three doses of omalizumab, added to antihistamine therapy.
At 4 w…