Novartis gets EU nod for Xolair for children

Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG's asthma drug Xolair has been approved by the European Commission as an add-on therapy for children aged 6 to 11 years suffering from severe persistent allergic asthma.

The approval was based in part on a landmark study that showed Xolair reduced asthma attacks by 34 percent after 24 weeks of treatment and provided an overall reduction of 50 percent at one year in patients between 6 and 11 years old.