Abstract
We conducted a retrospective clinical investigation of 50 patients who were treated at this hospital for chronic idiopathic urticaria that were switched to bilastine (BilanoaⓇ) due to inadequate response to second-generation antihistamines (patients with a severity score of at least level 3 and an urticarial activity score [UAS] of at least 3). Significant reduction in UAS was observed 2 weeks after switching to bilastine and this reduction was maintained until 8 weeks after switching. Further, significant UAS score reduction at 2 weeks after switching bilastine was observed regardless of the prior drugs (piperidine/piperazine/tricyclic antihistamine). This analysis indicated that the reduction in UAS was maintained beyond 2 weeks after switching from fexofenadine, olopatadine, levocetirizine, bepotastine, or loratadine to bilastine, but that the reduction in UAS was not maintained beyond 2 weeks after the switch from epinastine. The results of our retrospective investigation suggest that bilastine is effective after switching from most second-generation antihistamines. However, further research on specific drugs is required.
