Hereditary angiodema: a current state-of-the-art review, IV: short- and long-term treatment of hereditary angioedema: out with the old and in with the new?

OBJECTIVE: To provide a context to understand the opportunity for novel therapeutic modalities to transform the treatment of hereditary angioedema (HAE).

DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE and PubMed were searched to identify studies involving current treatment of HAE in the United States.

STUDY SELECTION: Studies were selected based on their relevance to the treatment of HAE.

RESULTS: The current HAE treatment strategy is far from satisfactory, and its limitations create an unmet clinical need. Current prophylactic treatment exposes patients with HAE to significant risk of adverse effects, and the efficacy of prophylactic treatment, although generally good, is far from perfect.

CONCLUSIONS: No specific treatment is currently available in the United States for acute HAE attacks that will reliably work, resulting in a significant unmet clinical need. The emergence of several promising drugs for the treatment of HAE attacks is, thus, an extraordinarily important development in the management of these patients.