People suffering from multiple food allergies may have more treatment options after scientists discovered an injectable medicine was an effective treatment.
The team of US researchers found that omalizumab, an injectable medicine, performed better than oral immunotherapy at preventing reactions in patients with severe food allergies.
Around 6% of UK adults suffer from food allergies according to the Food Standards Agency, with peanuts and tree nuts like hazelnuts, walnuts and almonds most likely to cause an allergic reaction.
Last year, a number of NHS hospitals joined a ‘miracle’ £2.5m trial that saw children able to enjoy foods that would previously have triggered anaphylaxis, after undergoing oral immunotherapy.
However, in the new study led by Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, 36% of participants who received the new injectable drug were able to eat around eight peanuts and two other food allergens by the end of the trial, compared to just 19% of the group who underwent oral immunotherapy.
Oral immunotherapy involves eating gradually increasing doses of a food to reduce the allergic response to it.
Omalizumab, on the other hand, binds to an antibody called immunoglobulin E in the blood and prevents it from arming the immune cells responsible for allergic reactions.
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This makes the cells less sensitive to stimulation by any allergen, according to the study.
During the study, 177 young people and three adults were split into groups.
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One group was given an initial dose of omalizumab, as it had already been proven to make oral immunotherapy safer, while the second group was given a placebo injection.
The first group then underwent oral immunotherapy and was given placebo injections of omalizumab, while the second group was given omalizumab and underwent placebo oral immunotherapy.
Although at the end of the study, the same proportion of remaining people in each group could tolerate at least two grams of three foods they were allergic to, a much larger number of people dropped out of the first group before the trial could finish.
More than half of the people who left that group went because they’d had allergic reactions or other intolerable symptoms of immunotherapy, according to the researchers, while no one left the second group because of allergic reactions or other symptoms.
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“This is the first time we’ve been able to directly compare these two treatments for multiple food allergies, and our study shows omalizumab was superior to oral immunotherapy,” said Robert Wood, who was principal investigator of the study.
The research found omalizumab was more effective than oral immunotherapy because of the high rate of allergic reactions among the patients who underwent immunotherapy.
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In the UK, omalizumab is currently used to treat hives, an itchy red rash, and severe asthma.
Sky News has contacted the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to ask if it is being considered for allergy treatment in the UK but they were unable to confirm as the information is “commercially sensitive”.
