A New Treatment Can Relieve Food Allergies, But Few Doctors Offer It

Scouring ingredient lists. Carrying an EpiPen. Sitting at the special lunch table at school. These anxiety-ridden measures have become routine for families with severe food allergies, who know it takes only one wrong bite to end up in the emergency room.

 I can eat it

Taking a bite out of food allergies

 Is It Really Possible to Cure Your Own Food Allergies?

Emmaeatscarrotss, a TikTok user, is attempting ad-hoc immunotherapy for an audience of thousands. But will her journey work? We asked allergists.

 Letters: Oral Immunotherapy for Peanut Allergies ‘Is More Than Worth the Risk’

Readers defend the risks of a costly new peanut-allergy treatment.

 Oral Immunotherapy for Food-Allergic Children: A Pro-Con Debate

OIT remains a controversial treatment option, requiring team decision making, with patient, family, and physician involved, and all potential risks and benefits should be reviewed. This therapeutic approach has benefits, and it is associated with effective results in terms of increasing the eliciting dose of allergens in many patients, but it also carries significant risks, such as a higher rate of ARs than patients following strict allergen avoidance.

 The U.S. Health-Care System Found a Way to Make Peanuts Cost $4,200

A new, billion-dollar pharmaceutical to treat peanut allergies is up for approval. It’s simply peanut flour.

A New Treatment Can Relieve Food Allergies, But Few Doctors Offer It

Block joins a small but growing number of providers around the U.S. who have begun offering the therapy without enrolling patients in trials. Just four board-certified allergists offered oral immunotherapy for food allergies in 2010, but the number surpassed 100 by 2017, according to the website OIT 101, which is run by parents who've had success with oral immunotherapy and maintains a directory of providers.

A Practical, Stepwise Approach to Peanut Oral Immunotherapy in Clinical Practice: Benefits and Risks

Recently, the emergence of POIT as an active therapy has changed the traditional approach to peanut allergy management and expanded the offerings for children with peanut allergy. Making the right decision for therapy differs for each patient and their family. Balancing risks and benefits of POIT versus no therapy requires review of the current evidence by both provider and patient, as well as significant personal input on the patient’s preferences.

Allergy treatments enter a new era — with a focus on stopping reactions before they start

Allergy treatments haven’t advanced much in decades, even as hundreds of millions around the world suffer from wheezing, itches, and rashes — and in severe cases, risk death — from exposure to allergens ranging from eggs to pollen to dog dander. But hope may be on the way. Scientists who study the immune system are beginning to understand the root cause of allergies — and are starting to work on next-generation therapies that could stop allergies in their tracks, rather than simply treating symptoms.

Allergy treatments enter a new era — with a focus on stopping reactions before they start

Allergy treatments haven’t advanced much in decades, even as hundreds of millions around the world suffer from wheezing, itches, and rashes — and in severe cases, risk death — from exposure to allergens ranging from eggs to pollen to dog dander. But hope may be on the way. Scientists who study the immune system are beginning to understand the root cause of allergies — and are starting to work on next-generation therapies that could stop allergies in their tracks, rather than simply treating symptoms.

For Children With Peanut Allergies, F.D.A. Experts Recommend a New Treatment

A Food and Drug Administration panel on Friday recommended approval of the first-ever drug to treat life-threatening peanut allergies in children, a condition that confounds and frightens families across the country.

New Peanut Allergy Drug Shows ‘Lifesaving’ Potential

Results from a new study may lead to approval of what could be the first drug that ameliorates potentially deadly reactions in children with severe peanut allergies.

Peanut allergies: Research shows ‘oral immunotherapy’ is safe for preschoolers

For any parent of a child with severe allergy, the idea of giving them even a small amount of the allergenic food might give them pause. I don’t blame them — giving a child a known allergen is a daunting thought. Some allergists share this fear and do not offer OIT to patients in their clinics due to safety concerns.

Seasonal Sniffles? Immunotherapy Tablets Catch On As An Alternative To Allergy Shots

The treatment, known as sublingual immunotherapy, or SLIT, is more convenient than shots and has been shown to be safe. But it won't work for everyone. Each tablet targets just one allergy. There are four FDA-approved tablet products on the market to treat grass pollens, house dust mites and ragweed.

The Allergy Buster

Desensitization is a straightforward idea; it’s the same principle, according to legend, that King Mithridates VI used to cultivate immunity to poison (an occupational hazard of royalty in the ancient world). The therapy has been used successfully for environmental allergies for decades, by giving patients small injections of pollen or cat dander or other allergens, but it was considered too dangerous to try with food allergies until recently.

The Current State of Oral Immunotherapy

OIT is a leading investigational and now, marketed treatment, offering the hope of protection from food allergy reactions. However, like most chronic diseases, food allergy treatment will not be a “one size fits all” approach. Thus far, OIT has primarily targeted allergy to single foods; further study is required to determine if multiallergen OIT will be beneficial.