Pill Rather than Allergy Shots for Ragweed

If all goes well, in 2013 there will be a pill a patient can take rather than allergy shots to tone down the immune response to not only grasses (Grazax), but also ragweed.

The active ingredient in this ragweed pill is Ambrosia artemisifolia, the chemical found within ragweed that causes allergy symptoms.

Phase III trials with this pill taken once/day for 52 weeks conducted by Merck show a significant improvement in allergy symptoms by nearly 25%. Use of allergy medications like anti-histamines and steroid nasal sprays decreased by about 40%.

Just as in allergy shots, it is felt that repeated exposure to the actual allergen will induce immune tolerance. As such, rather than treating the symptoms as with anti-histamines, this medication will theoretically prevent the allergy from appearing in the first place.

Of course, side effects were present and akin to allergies it is supposed to prevent.

There is no published data yet, but results were presented at the 2012 AAAAI meeting.

Source:
New allergy pill may tame ragweed symptoms. MSNBC 3/4/12

Allergy to Cats, Dogs, or Dust Make Allergy to All Else More Severe

New research published in this month's Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology reported that patients with allergy to cat, dog, and/or dust mite resulted in increased allergy symptom severity to other allergies like ragweed.

In other words, if you have a cat allergy and also allergic to ragweed, the cat will actually make your allergy to ragweed even worse than if you did not have a cat (or have a cat allergy).

These year-round allergies appear to “pre-prime” the immune system so symptoms hit harder, earlier, and faster.

So what can you do if this problem applies to you? Treat the cat, dog or dust mite allergy year round (or get rid of the cat/dog)!

Read a news article on this here.

Reference:
Factors that affect the allergic rhinitis response to ragweed allergen exposure. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2010 Apr;104(4):293-8.