• Marie-Hélène Lafeuille, Jason Dean, Jie Zhang, Mei Sheng Duh, Boris Gorsh, and Patrick Lefebvre.
• Groupe d'analyse, Ltée, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
• Ann. Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2012 Jul 1; 109 (1): 59-64.

BackgroundOmalizumab is a monoclonal antibody indicated for moderate to severe allergic asthma patients with inadequately controlled symptoms.ObjectiveTo evaluate the impact of omalizumab on emergency department (ED) visits, hospitalizations, and corticosteroid use among patients with uncontrolled asthma using high-dose inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) and long-acting beta2-agonists (LABA).MethodsHealth insurance claims from the MarketScan database (2002Q1-2009Q1) were analyzed. Patients with 12 months or more of continuous insurance coverage before and after the first omalizumab dispensing, 8 or more weeks of high-dose ICS use, 8 or more weeks of LABA use, and uncontrolled asthma at baseline were included. A retrospective analysis was conducted to quantify the impact of omalizumab on resource use by comparing ED visits, hospitalizations, and corticosteroid use 1 year before and after omalizumab initiation. A 1-year period was chosen to cover any potential seasonality impacts.ResultsIn total, 644 patients (mean age, 49.9; female, 59.2%) formed the study population. Omalizumab was associated with a 48.6% reduction in the proportion of patients with 1 or more asthma-related ED visits (pre vs post-omalizumab period: 21.4% vs 11.0%; P < .001) and a 40.8% reduction in asthma-related hospitalizations (25.0% vs 14.8%, respectively, P < .001). Compared with the pre-omalizumab period, the use of ICS decreased significantly after omalizumab initiation (7.8 vs 6.5 dispensings, P < .001; 41.9% of patients had a reduction in ICS use). A similar reduction in oral corticosteroid use was observed (5.0 vs 3.6 dispensings, P < .001; 53.3% of patients had a reduction in oral corticosteroid use).ConclusionThe current analysis showed that omalizumab treatment initiation was associated with significant reductions in ED visits, hospitalizations, and corticosteroid use.Copyright © 2012 American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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