The Evolving Treatment Paradigm for Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria Management - Episode 7
CSU: Long-Term Disease Control
A panelist discusses long-term omalizumab studies showing symptom relapse after discontinuation, contrasting this with barselolizumab data where over a third of patients remained symptom free months after stopping treatment, suggesting potential for sustained remission and disease modification in chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU).
Long-term studies of omalizumab in CSU have demonstrated that although the treatment is very effective during use, symptoms tend to return almost universally once the drug is discontinued after 6 months to 1 year. In contrast, data from barselolizumab trials show a promising difference: Between 48 and 76 weeks, more than a third of patients remained symptom free even after stopping treatment. This suggests that barselolizumab might contribute to a higher rate of sustained remission, potentially shortening the overall disease duration for patients.
The encouraging findings from barselolizumab raise the possibility of using this therapy more broadly to achieve longer-lasting disease control and remission in CSU. Such an approach could shift treatment goals from merely managing symptoms to actually modifying the course of the disease. This represents an important advancement compared with existing therapies, where ongoing treatment is often necessary to maintain symptom control.
The phase 2 clinical trial for barselolizumab followed a typical design for CSU studies, using a 12-week primary end point focused on reducing urticaria severity and activity. The trial results showed a highly significant improvement in the treatment group compared with placebo at 12 weeks, reinforcing the drug’s strong therapeutic potential early in the treatment course.
