Allergy News

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.

RAPID CITY — If you or your family members seem to come down with colds every year at Christmas time, you might want to think about replacing that fresh-cut tree with an artificial one, according to a local allergy doctor.

That news comes from researchers including Mary Morris, MD, of Allergy Associates of La Crosse in La Crosse, Wis.

They studied 115 people with a history of severe skin reactions to poison ivy who were treated at their clinic over the past 15 years.

The treatment was a small amount of poison ivy extract placed under the tongue. The goal was to train the body's immune system not to overreact to poison ivy.

The patients took skin tests to see if the treatment helped.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Researchers at Children's Mercy Hospital have analyzed a decade's worth of data and found what appears to be a trend of earlier pollen seasons, which they believe is triggered by rising temperatures.

The group has discovered that during the past 10 years the oak pollen season in Kansas City has begun, on average, a half day earlier each year. The findings were to be presented Saturday in Philadelphia at the annual meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.

"It could be creating a longer growing season for oaks," said Charles Barnes, the Children's Mercy biochemist in charge of the hospital's daily mold and pollen counts. "You might have to start taking your allergy medicine earlier."

The Children's Mercy research is similar to other research worldwide that attributes earlier, longer and more miserable allergy seasons to global warming. Some researchers suggest that the growing abundance of pollen may be causing the rising rates of asthma and increases in hay fever, eczema and other allergies in many countries.

LONDON (AFX) - Evolutec Group plc, a biopharmaceutical company developing products for the treatment of allergic, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, said its hay fever drug candidate rEV131 has demonstrated an additional mechanism that may give it anti-inflammatory properties.

It said rEV131, currently in Phase IIb trial, has an equivalent impact to an experimental small molecule H4 receptor blocker which may explain its anti-inflammatory effects, such as the significant reduction in nasal congestion observed, in previous clinical trials in asthma.

'We believe that rEV131 has the potential to fill the unmet need in allergic rhinitis for a new product which has a fast onset and reduces all symptoms,' it said.

Evolutec also said it is on schedule to deliver the results of its North American 300-patient Phase IIb hay fever trial by the year-end.

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It was a very promising article, until I read till the end and saw

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This has almost put me off a little, and I had to re-read the article. What's wrong with people who are actually writing something worth reading? Why there always has to be something distracting and repulsing?

Anyways, I invite you to read the article about the herbal treatment which can help you to fight your allergy.

Finally some good news on Allergy treatment. Sublingual Immunotherapy instead of shots. No more skin penetrating and direct injections into the blood. The allergen will go via "normal" way, i.e. the immune system will get proper warning and will act accordingly

"I have to remember to take it every morning," Mrs. Pilarski said. "Other than that, it's very convenient."

Ok, I understand that there's a price to pay for the safe medicine - a need to remember to take it. However, I think it's not that hard.

Read more below

By Shahina Maqbool, 13 Oct 2006

ISLAMABAD: Unpredictable weather changes, respiratory viral infections, and unprecedented heat and humidity in August and September increased the misery of respiratory allergy and asthma patients throughout Punjab and parts of NWFP.

The management of their illness becomes a challenge in Ramazan for many allergy and asthma patients as the holy month is associated with a significant change in daily routine patterns. Many believers visit mosques more frequently during Ramazan than any other time of the year. They expose themselves to dust from carpets, and many experience difficulty in breathing during 'sajda' (kneeling).

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.

High-efficiency air filtration equipment 100 times more efficient than standard paper filters can be added to existing central air conditioning and heating systems to remove 99.98 percent of airborne allergens.

Southlake, TX (PRWEB) October 13, 2006 -- Autumn brings crisp days and cool evenings to North Texas, a welcome change from the grueling heat of a sizzling summer. It also brings a few things not so welcome – runny noses, watery eyes, itchy throats, sneezing and congestion that are classic symptoms of seasonal allergies.

The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA) again has named the Dallas/Fort Worth area one of the 10 worst places in the United States for fall allergies, which dulls the fall luster for many North Texas residents.

NBC -- Changing leaves and cooler temperatures aren't the only signs that Autumn is here! For many people, itchy eyes and runny noses mark the beginning of Fall.

But if you depend on a drug store remedy to ease your allergy suffering, you may want to take a second look at the label.

For millions, the start of fall means much more than the end of mowing season!

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.

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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The body's mast cells are mainly associated with allergic reaction in the way they release histamine and other inflammatory substances. However, researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now demonstrated how the mast cells can also contribute to diseases like psoriasis and cancer.

Mast cells are most known for their association with allergic reactions, as they act like microscopic "bombs" to trigger the release of a number of substances that give rise to the classic allergic symptoms, such as swelling, congestion and itching. The explosive reactions are activated when an allergen (such as pollen particles) binds to receptors on the surface of the mast cell, which then opens and secretes part of its contents.