The asthma drug Xolair is also effective in preventing allergic reactions to foods such as peanuts, tree nuts and eggs. This is evident from a study published on Sunday. On February 16, the American drug agency FDA approved the drug for use in adults and children older than 1 year.
The children examined in the study showed a significant increase in their tolerance to peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, milk and wheat, the researchers write in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The results show that such a treatment “can significantly reduce the occurrence of allergic reactions to various foods during accidental exposure,” says lead author Robert Wood in a press release distributed by Xolair manufacturer Roche. The Swiss pharmaceutical company owns the laboratory in California, Genentech, which has been cleared by the FDA. In the United States, Roche distributes the drug with Novartis.
After a period of regular injections for 16 to 20 weeks, 67 percent of patients who received omalizumab, the scientific name for Xolair, tolerated a dose of 600 mg of peanuts. For those who received a placebo, this was only 7 percent. The study was conducted on 177 children between the ages of 1 and 17.
Encouraging results
FDA acknowledges that these are encouraging results, but also adds that it should not be assumed that patients will be able to consume the allergens again. The aim is only to reduce the allergic reaction in the event of accidental ingestion.
Xolair is considered safe. The main side effects are fever and injection site reaction.
“Food allergies are a growing food safety and public health problem in the United States,” reads the website of the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 2 percent of adults and “between 4 and 8 percent” of children experience it. Every year, 30,000 people end up in emergency departments, and 150 people die from it every year.
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2024-02-25 23:36:01
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