Allergy News

SAN DIEGO, Feb. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- A survey of more than 1,500 allergic rhinitis sufferers who have used a prescription nasal spray to treat their symptoms revealed that device and formulation-related attributes were the major causes of discontinuing their treatment. The survey data (poster #896) were presented today at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI).

"These results suggest compliance among nasal spray users could improve if new technology overcomes the key barriers to continued use identified by these patients," said Eli Meltzer, M.D., co-director of the Allergy & Asthma Medical Group and Research Center in San Diego, Calif., who led the survey. "This is important because nasal sprays, specifically intranasal corticosteroids, are considered by medical experts as first-line therapy when congestion is a major component of the patient's nasal allergy symptoms." 

The Berkeley-based company said it will explore developing a different path for trials for the treatment, called Tolamba.

It announced Jan. 8 that trials for the drug were inconclusive, sending shares of the company's stock that day down 30 percent to just below $6.

"It's not the death knell for the allergy program," said Shari Annes, a Dynavax spokeswoman. "It was an inconclusive trial, not a failed drug."

The prescription antihistamine Astelin(R) (azelastine HCl) Nasal Spray(R) relieved the major symptoms of pollen allergy, including sneezing, runny nose and congestion, within 15 minutes of application compared to placebo and maintained efficacy at all time points for 8 hours in a randomized, single dose, double-blind, placebo- controlled study, MedPointe Pharmaceuticals announced today.

In addition, a group of patients treated with intranasal Nasonex(R) (mometasone furoate monohydrate) did not show symptom improvement compared to placebo during the eight hour study period. Data from the 450-patient study, conducted in a controlled environmental exposure unit (EEU), were presented at the 2007 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI) Annual Meeting in San Diego, California.

Dr. Moises Calderon, of Royal Brompton Hospital in London, and colleagues evaluated the results from randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies in patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis due to tree, grass or weed pollens. The studies involved 2,871 participants.

The review appears in the current issue of The Cochrane Library, a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates medical research. Systematic reviews draw evidence-based conclusions about medical practice after considering both the content and quality of existing medical trials on a topic.

"In effect, we saw three patient groups with no measurable disease during the ragweed season. This result was unexpected, though these challenges are well known to occur in allergy drug development. Due to the fact that no clinically significant disease was seen in the study population, it was impossible to measure the effect of our intervention," noted Dino Dina, MD, president and chief executive officer. Dina continued, "We are working closely with our consultants and investigators to review the data in detail and determine the future of the program."

How well do we manage our patients who have been diagnosed with allergic rhinitis? Do patients and healthcare providers have a similar outlook? This presentation was given at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Annual Meeting, and largely is drawn from data obtained from "Allergies in America: A Landmark Survey of Nasal Allergy Sufferers," the largest and most comprehensive national survey of patients with allergic rhinitis, and the healthcare providers who treat them, which was released in 2006.^[1]

The purpose of this survey was to describe the symptoms, burden of disease, and treatment of allergic rhinitis. As a brief summary, a national sample of 31,470 American households were screened by telephone interview to obtain a national probability sample of 2500 adults, aged 18 and over, who had been diagnosed by a physician with allergic rhinitis, nasal allergies, or "hay fever" and who had nasal allergy symptoms, or had taken prescription medication for allergies within the past 12 months

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - U.S. drug maker Schering-Plough Corp. <SGP.N> will develop and sell Denmark's ALK-Abello anti-allergy drug Grazax in North America, the Danish company said on Wednesday.

Shares in the Danish company rose 7.1 percent to 1,550 crowns on the news.

The drug treats grass pollen, house dust mite and ragweed allergies. The two companies will develop and sell it in the United States, Canada and Mexico, with Schering-Plough acquiring exclusive license rights.

By Hana R. Solomon, MD

Worldwide, only 10% to 30% of healthcare is provided by conventional, Western, biomedical practitioners. The remainder is delivered either through folk beliefs or alternative traditions.^[1] Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has become more popular in the United States over the past few decades. With this increasing popularity of CAM, it is important that practitioners become familiar with this area of medical practice for all diagnoses.

According to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), CAM is defined as "a group of diverse medical and healthcare systems, practices, and products that are not presently considered to be part of conventional medicine.^[2]" The list of modalities included in this definition continually changes as practices are integrated into Western conventional medicine. They also identify 5 concepts, or domains, of CAM:

Ragweed allergies makes millions of us miserable with symptoms from red, watery eyes to excessive sneezing. But now a new treatment could soon leave you allergy-free.

It's ragweed season again and oncology nurse Kim Brandt is just one of 36 million Americans allergic to the wild plant.

Kim Brandt, RN, ragweed allergy sufferer: "I would be sneezing, running, watery eyes, itchy nose and nasal congestion."

Sick of the symptoms, Kim joined a study on a new approach called rush immunotherapy.

Called Grazax, the pill dissolves under the tongue and, to be effective, must be taken eight weeks before the hayfever season begins. Trials with the pill followed successful tests of a grass pollen injection, which was found to protect hayfever sufferers from pollen allergy for three years after their treatment was stopped.

PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 15 (UPI) -- There is epidemiological evidence that the prevalence of allergic rhinitis is rising worldwide, according to U.S. researchers.

"Reports indicate (allergic rhinitis) has increased 100 percent in each of the last three decades in developed countries," said Dr. Eli O. Meltzer, co-director of the Allergy & Asthma Medical Group & Research Center and of the University of California in San Diego.

"With allergic disorders estimated to affect some 1.4 billion people globally, there appears to be a worldwide epidemic of allergic diseases. Studies suggest this is likely a consequence of our changing environment, reduced infections and genetic susceptibilities," said Meltzer.

PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 15 -- When inhaled corticosteroids don't adequately control a patient's asthma, the choice of next-best add-on therapy is open to debate.

So specialists did just that at a symposium, sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline, held in conjunction with the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Each argued for one possible add-on therapy -- long-acting beta agonists, immunotherapy, leukotriene receptor antagonists, and plain old aspirin.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Regular physical activity might offer children some protection from the sniffs and sneezes of hay fever, a study suggests.

German researchers found that among the 1,700 children they followed for up to 12 years, those who were inactive at the study's start were 50 percent more likely to develop hay fever, compared with their regularly active peers.

According to the researchers, their findings are unlikely to be a case of "reverse causality," where hay fever caused some children to avoid outdoor activities. For one, the study followed the children over time, documenting new cases of hay fever. In addition, sedentary children were inactive year-round, not only during pollen season. 

Instead, the findings, published in the journal Allergy, suggest that regular exercise may somehow keep hay fever at bay.

A significant portion of the population suffers from allergic rhinitis. Rhinorrhea, sneezing, nasal congestion, itchy nose, and conjunctivitis are common symptoms associated with allergic rhinitis, and antihistamines are considered a first-line treatment for the management of these symptoms.

Improvements in health-related quality of life and health status were measured in this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of levocetirizine, a new antihistamine, in patients with persistent allergic rhinitis.

Patients recorded responses to the Rhinoconjunctivitis Quality of Life Questionnaire (RQLQ) at the beginning of the randomization visit and at 1 and 4 weeks later, as well as at 3, 4.5, and 6 months after the randomization visits. Health status was also assessed using the Short Form (SF)-36 measure at all of the same time points, with the exception of Week 1.

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.

full story