Allergic Rhinitis: October 2006 Archives

A daily tablet that could cure hay fever will be available within months.

The pills, which dissolve under the tongue, dramatically reduce the symptoms of the allergy which blights the lives of one in four Britons each summer.

Manufacturer, Danish drug firm ALK-Abello, believes its Grazax tablets, which can be taken at home, will even cure some sufferers.

The prescription-only pills, which are based on grass pollen, have recently been licensed for use and are expected to be on sale in the UK within three months.

Popped under the tongue once a day during the summer, they are the first tablets to tackle the underlying course of hay fever, rather than merely treat the symptoms.

Infants, whose parents suffer from allergies that produce symptoms like wheezing, asthma, hay fever or hives, risk developing allergic sensitization much earlier in life than previously reported, according to a study by U.S. researchers.

The study suggests that the current practice of avoiding skin testing for airborne allergens before four of five years old should be reconsidered, so that children in this high-risk group can be detected early and monitored for the possibility of later allergic respiratory disease.

Americans accustomed to the seasonal misery of sneezing, runny noses and itchy, watery eyes caused by ragweed pollen might one day benefit from an experimental allergy treatment that not only requires fewer injections than standard immunotherapy, but leads to a marked reduction in symptoms that persists for at least a year after therapy has stopped, according to a new study in the October 5 issue of i The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). The research was sponsored by the Immune Tolerance Network, which is funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), both components of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International.

BALTIMORE, Oct. 5 (UPI) -- Baltimore researchers have successfully used an experimental DNA-based vaccine to protect against ragweed allergies, commonly known as hay fever.

Patients receiving the vaccine showed an average 60 percent reduction in allergy symptoms compared to those receiving a placebo, say researchers at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

The NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE (Vol. 355, October 5, 2006, No.14), today reported that a new approach to allergy therapy not only reduced the acute allergic responses of individuals with ragweed allergies but also sustained that effect for over 12 months. The novel treatment, called "AIC" in the paper, is a TLR9 agonist linked to ragweed allergen, developed by Dynavax Technologies Corporation (Nasdaq: DVAX).

Allergic rhinitis (AR), more commonly known as "hay fever" can have a profound impact on the daily lives of sufferers beyond its physical effect -- including psychological well-being, sleep quality, and ability to learn and process cognitive input, according to a new article scheduled to appear in the on-line issue of Allergy and Asthma Proceedings.

"The Burden of Allergic Rhinitis," authored by Robert A. Nathan, M.D., Clinical Professor of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Allergy and Immunology, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, provides an overview of the impact of AR in our society based on findings in the landmark 2006 Allergies in America Survey (AIA) and other noteworthy surveys and studies conducted in the US and Europe. In his article, Dr. Nathan describes the negative cascade of events that adults and children can experience as a result of this condition.

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