In particular, most physicians fail to appreciate the negative impact of angioedema in CSU patients.
“This is not a swollen lip just once a year, this is angioedema weekly or monthly that really impairs quality of life. It’s not just a swollen lip or a swollen eye for the day or for a couple of hours, it’s the fear of going to sleep because in the morning you may wake up looking like that and not be able to go to work,” Dr. Maurer pointed out.
During the first year of the study, the overall situation improved significantly over the course of office visits every 3 months. The prevalence of DLQI scores indicative of a moderate or worse quality of life impact gradually fell from 56% to 28%. The proportion of patients on third-line treatment rose stepwise to 29.5% at 1 year. The rate of uncontrolled CSU as defined by a UCT score below 12 dropped steadily over time to 42%. At 1 year, only 16% of patients reported having an angioedema episode within the prior 12 weeks.
Still, this leaves much room for further improvement, Dr. Maurer commented.
“We’re on the right track, but patients who are in our treatment for a year should have their disease controlled. That’s our job. We have the treatments, and we should provide them. Even after 1 year there are still patients with a DLQI score above 10, and that’s not good,” he said.
Dr. Maurer was first author of the recently published interim results of the German portion of the AWARE study (Clin Exp Allergy. 2017 May;47[5]:684-52). The AWARE study is sponsored by Novartis, manufacturer of omalizumab, which is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treating CSU. Dr. Maurer reported receiving research grants from and serving as an advisor to and paid speaker for Novartis and numerous other pharmaceutical companies.
bjancin@frontlinemedcom.com