A Stanford Medicine study finds drug limits allergic reactions to food in kids
A study published on Feb. 25 2024, in the New England Journal of Medicine, suggests that regular use of the drug, omalizumab, could protect people from severe allergic responses, such as difficulty breathing if they accidentally eat a small amount of food they are allergic to.
Food allergies occur when the body's immune system mistakenly identifies certain proteins in food as harmful invaders. Upon encountering these proteins, the immune system launches an attack, leading to various symptoms such as hives, difficulty breathing, or digestive issues. A drug can make life safer for children with food allergies by preventing dangerous allergic responses to small quantities of allergy-triggering foods
"I'm excited that we have a promising new treatment for multifood allergic patients. This new approach showed really great responses for many of the foods that trigger their allergies," said the study's senior author, Sharon Chinthrajah, MD, associate professor of medicine and of pediatrics, and the acting director of the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research at Stanford Medicine.
Originally approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat conditions like allergic asthma and chronic hives, Omalizumab works by binding to and neutralizing the antibodies responsible for various allergic reactions. It's an injected antibody that targets and deactivates all forms of immunoglobin E (IgE), the molecule central to allergic responses in the bloodstream and on immune cells throughout the body. Current evidence suggests that Omalizumab may offer relief from multiple food allergies simultaneously.
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