Omalizumab Effective in Children With Multiple Food Allergies

Combining omalizumab with oral immunotherapy (OIT) significantly improves the effectiveness of OIT in children with multiple food allergies, according to the results of a recent study.

Although research has been conducted into the safety of single food oral immunotherapy, little evidence is available concerning the treatment of children with multifood allergies.
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For their study, researchers conducted a blinded, phase 2 clinical trial including children aged 4 to 15 years who had multifood allergies validated by double-blind, placebo-controlled food challenges.

The participants were randomly assigned (3:1) to either receive omalizumab with multifood oral immunotherapy or placebo. Omalizumab and placebo were administered for 16 weeks, with oral immunotherapy beginning at 8 weeks.

Overall, at week 36, a significantly greater proportion of the omalizumab-treated participants passed double-blind, placebo-controlled food challenges, compared with placebo (83% vs 33%).

No serious or severe adverse events were reported.

“In multifood allergic patients, omalizumab improves the efficacy of multifood oral immunotherapy and enables safe and rapid desensitisation.”

—Michael Potts

Reference:

Andorf S, Purington N, Block WM, et al. Anti-IgE treatment with oral immunotherapy in multifood allergic participants: a double-blind, randomised, controlled trial [published online December 11, 2017]. Lancet Gastroenterol Hepatol. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2468-1253(17)30392-8.