Results from the recent ASTERIA II trial showed that the biologic agent omalizumab (Novartis) may be effective for patients with moderate to severe chronic idiopathic urticaria (CIU), referred to as chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) outside the United States, who remained symptomatic despite treatment with approved antihistamine doses. The study showed that omalizumab given at doses of 150 mg and 300 mg every four weeks led to significant improvement from baseline at Week 12 in the mean weekly ISS from baseline (approximately 14 in all treatment groups) by 8.1 (p=0.001) and 9.8 (p<0.001), respectively, compared to a 5.1 improvement in patients on placebo. The data were published today in the New England Journal of Medicine and will be presented Saturday at the AAD annual meeting in Miami.