Asthma drug effective in preventing food allergies, study finds

Xolair, a drug already known and used for the treatment of asthma, is effective in preventing allergic reactions linked to several foods, reveals a study published Sunday.

The American Medicines Agency (FDA) authorized this treatment on February 16 for this specific use and for adults and children over one year old, at a time when food allergies are of increasing concern in the country. . The patients involved in the study who benefited from the treatment, all allergic children, saw a significant increase in their tolerance to food products such as peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, milk and wheat, reveals the publication in New England Journal of Medicine.

These results show that such treatment “can significantly reduce the occurrence of allergic reactions to several foods in the event of accidental exposure,” said Robert Wood, the lead author of the study, in a press release released by Rock. The Swiss pharmaceutical giant owns the Californian laboratory Genentech, to which the FDA has given authorization, and co-distributes Xolair with Novartis in the United States.

Omalizumab, the scientific name for Xolair, is a monoclonal antibody that blocks the action of antibodies that cause allergic reactions. At the end of a period of regular injections over 16 to 20 weeks, 67% of patients who actually received omalizumab, for example, tolerated a dose of 600 mg of peanuts, compared to only 7% of patients who received the placebo. .

The study, funded by the US Department of Health, included some 177 children aged 1 to 17. If these results are encouraging, they should not suggest that beneficiaries could resume consuming allergens, insists the FDA, the aim being only to reduce the reaction in the event of accidental ingestion.

Xolair is considered safe, with the main associated side effects being fever and an injection site reaction, she notes. Authorized in 2003 for asthma, Xolair has since also been authorized for the treatment of chronic spontaneous urticaria.

“Food allergies are a growing concern for food safety and public health” in the United States, we can read on the website of the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC). They affect some 2% of adults and “between 4 and 8%” of children in the United States. These food allergies are the cause of some 30,000 emergency room visits and 150 deaths each year in the country, according to the authorities.