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Hay fever study
Data presented on June 30 in a satellite symposium at the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology (BSACI) annual meeting in Nottingham, show that Grazax provides sustained disease control in patients with grass pollen allergy.
The latest results from the European multi-centre study were first presented in a poster session at the Congress of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology in Warsaw earlier this month.
ALK-Abelló's Grazax is the first allergy immunotherapy treatment available in tablet form. It is a standardised extract of pollen taken from timothy grass – a plant native to Europe and widely cultivated in North America for hay. It works by inducing immunological tolerance to reduce, or even stop, future rhinoconjunctivitis (hay fever) after the treatment period has ended.
Patients should be diagnosed by a positive skin prick test and/or specific IgE test to grass pollen and the manufacturers say that treatment with Grazax should be continued for a period of 3 years. An earlier paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2008 showed that treatment with Grazax provides significant reductions in both disease symptoms and the need for symptomatic medication. The new data show that the positive clinical effects of the therapy are sustained for at least 12 months after completion of a 3- year treatment regimen.
"These results represent a significant benefit for sufferers of grass pollen rhinoconjunctivitis or moderate to severe hay fever" said principal investigator Professor Stephen R Durham of the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College, London and Royal Brompton Hospital, London. Professor Durham is also president of the BSACI.
Published: 30/06/2009
Content Area: Pharmaceutical industry articlesArticle type: Healthcare news
