Team of researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine maintain that combining the antibody drug omalizumab with a procedure to desensitize children to multiple food allergies is safe and effective.
The research published in The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology showed omalizumab increased the speed and safety of treatment for multiple food allergies issues.
Dr. Sharon Chinthrajah, the study’s senior author said, “We were excited to see the clinical efficacy of this combination approach using omalizumab and multiple foods.”
Authors said the trial used a placebo-controlled, randomized design to determine whether omalizumab made it safer and faster for children to receive oral immunotherapy to desensitize them to multiple foods simultaneously.
The results also showed at the end of the nine-month trial that 83 percent of children receiving omalizumab tolerated at least two grams of two different food allergens while only 33 percent receiving a placebo reached the same level of tolerance.
The study included 48 children ages 4 to 15, with 36 children randomly assigned to receive omalizumab while 12 children received a placebo.
“The study showed significant efficacy and safety improvements in multi-allergic patients treated with omalizumab and food immunotherapy,” Dr. Kari Nadeau, the study’s co-author and professor of medicine and of pediatrics, said. “Multi-allergic patients are at much higher risk for anaphylactic reactions since they are allergic to more foods, and omalizumab can help change the course of therapy by making it safer and faster.”