Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

FDA approves first medication to reduce allergic reactions to multiple foods

fda.gov

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 170 posts

Re: FDA approves first medication to reduce allergic reactions to multiple foods

#111

Post by munchbunny »

joshmarinacci wrote: post #53

There’s something I don’t understand. I took allergy shots to treat my sinus allergies to grass pollen, pet dander, and rag weed. It’s not perfect but it built up my tolerance to these so that I can have cats and survive grass season. Why can’t a similar treatment work for food allergies.

Oral immunotherapy is currently the baseline treatment for things like peanut allergies, and it works, but it requires daily dosing. Also, for adults that start doing it, it often leads to feeling like you have perpetual digestive discomfort. Many people decide the discomfort isn’t worth it and stick with avoidance, especially for things like nut allergies where avoidance is quite doable in the US.

The good news is that if you diagnose food allergies early and start someone on oral immunotherapy when they’re extremely young (The downside is they have to continue their daily dose forever. There are some interesting alternatives coming into the market though.

Edit: they will still need to always keep epipens nearby, but at least now there’s no fear of anaphylaxis when someone nearby on the plane eats a bag of peanuts.

Re: FDA approves first medication to reduce allergic reactions to multiple foods

#112

Post by windowsrookie »

cnity wrote: post #97
Broken_Hippo wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry, but why would you expect someone to know all of the food ingredients on the menu - even if they work there - if they don't personally prepare all of the foods? Heck, in the US, most of the places aren't even paying their staff a decent wage. Servers go by the menu as well. It isn't like there is a list most places. If the owners cared about your allergies, they'd make sure their staff could find out easily…

I didn't read GP as blaming servers so much as demonstrating what is effectively systemic ignorance in the restaurant industry. The inability to 100% confirm ingredients is highlighted as not only being due to servers not knowing the exact contents of all meals (which is understandable), but also the fact that those who prepare and cook the meals as also being uncertain.

The problem is a large portion of the food in restaurants is not prepared in the restaurant. If you order a burger meal, yes the meat is cooked on the grill at the restaurant, but the buns, and any sauce were likely made somewhere else. They might purchase the meat pre-seasoned from the food distributor. And the french fries likely even have a seasoning pre-applied to them before they are delivered to the restaurant.

Re: FDA approves first medication to reduce allergic reactions to multiple foods

#113

Post by [deleted] »

windowsrookie wrote: post #112
cnity wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't read GP as blaming servers so much as demonstrating what is effectively systemic ignorance in the restaurant industry. The inability to 100% confirm ingredients is highlighted as not only being due to servers not knowing the exact contents of all meals (which is understandable), but also the fact that those who prepare and cook the meals as also being uncertain.

The problem is a large portion of the food in restaurants is not prepared in the restaurant. If you order a burger meal, yes the meat is cooked on the grill at the restaurant, but the buns, and any sauce were likely made somewhere else. They might purchase the meat pre-seasoned from the food distributor. And the french fries likely even have a seasoning pre-applied to them before they are delivered to the restaurant.

[deleted]

Re: FDA approves first medication to reduce allergic reactions to multiple foods

#114

Post by gruez »

refurb wrote: post #102
oaiey wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While true, there is more money going in executive compensation / stock than into research. So there is plenty of space for lower prices. Plenty.

That’s absurd and you just made it up. Easily verified through public info. Take Pfizer, R&D is $11B. You think executive comp is more than $11B? The CEO total comp is $24M or 2%. The exec team is less than 10 people. At least try to make believable claims.

He's probably referring to this article: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39405547 that made the rounds a few weeks ago, and bungled the meaning ("executive compensation / stock" rather than "executives and stockholders than on R&D").

Re: FDA approves first medication to reduce allergic reactions to multiple foods

#115

Post by Madmallard »

MrYellowP wrote: post #74
looping8 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We can hope it's not for the rest of one's life but only until a better solution is found. For people with deadly allergies, a few years of injections might not be too big of a price, I think.

Why would any of the pharma companies out there want to invent a permanent cure, when there's far more money to be made with a cure that is not permanent? Makes no sense. A one time customer isn't lucrative.

The heads of J&J and Pfizer would absolutely love it if their family members didn’t also get and die of illnesses like cancer and heart disease.

Re: FDA approves first medication to reduce allergic reactions to multiple foods

#116

Post by Zak »

derwiki wrote: post #47
lettergram wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve been on Dupixent and have a large number of allergies. 100% helped eczema. I used to have it to the point all my fingers were split in 5-8 places and I’d rate the pain scale at 8-9/10 (10 being arm cut off). I used to get blisters under the skin that’d combine and basically just peal off the skin - https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/dyshidrosis/s... Anyway, Dupixent made it entirely go away. I also f…

I get dyshidrotic eczema on my hands, have for decades, and had no idea dupixent could help that. It doesn’t cause me pain though; the blisters and peeling skin are certainly annoying, but the side effects sound like the same level of annoying.

UV light therapy may be an option for that. It's even possible to self-administer with a 365nm UV flashlight, which I have done successfully. I'll stop short of recommending anyone else actually do that themselves, but I will definitely do it again if my symptoms return.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7497185/

Re: FDA approves first medication to reduce allergic reactions to multiple foods

#117

Post by ifyoubuildit »

windowsrookie wrote: post #112
cnity wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't read GP as blaming servers so much as demonstrating what is effectively systemic ignorance in the restaurant industry. The inability to 100% confirm ingredients is highlighted as not only being due to servers not knowing the exact contents of all meals (which is understandable), but also the fact that those who prepare and cook the meals as also being uncertain.

The problem is a large portion of the food in restaurants is not prepared in the restaurant. If you order a burger meal, yes the meat is cooked on the grill at the restaurant, but the buns, and any sauce were likely made somewhere else. They might purchase the meat pre-seasoned from the food distributor. And the french fries likely even have a seasoning pre-applied to them before they are delivered to the restaurant.

Does that make it acceptable? Its like if a dev blames a library for a bug in their product that they are charging money for.

Re: FDA approves first medication to reduce allergic reactions to multiple foods

#118

Post by ebiester »

windowsrookie wrote: post #112
cnity wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't read GP as blaming servers so much as demonstrating what is effectively systemic ignorance in the restaurant industry. The inability to 100% confirm ingredients is highlighted as not only being due to servers not knowing the exact contents of all meals (which is understandable), but also the fact that those who prepare and cook the meals as also being uncertain.

The problem is a large portion of the food in restaurants is not prepared in the restaurant. If you order a burger meal, yes the meat is cooked on the grill at the restaurant, but the buns, and any sauce were likely made somewhere else. They might purchase the meat pre-seasoned from the food distributor. And the french fries likely even have a seasoning pre-applied to them before they are delivered to the restaurant.

But that makes it easier for the restaurant!

You have the ingredients on a package to check. The head chef can do it while constructing the recipe. And you can explicitly order gluten free substitutes that stay in the freezer until needed.

Re: FDA approves first medication to reduce allergic reactions to multiple foods

#119

Post by HorizonXP »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #35

It's a 16 to 20 week course of treatment and reduces risk of anaphylaxis for accidental exposure to food allergens. There is at least one other drug that is used to treat peanut allergies, but this treats multiple food allergies. Given that anaphylaxis can be deadly and staff at food places can be sometimes less than reliable about food allergy concerns, I can see this being appealing to someone with severe food alle…

I’m in that camp. My kids and I don’t have issues, but my wife does. We’ve had to de-train in Germany once and go to a hospital due to a reaction while on vacation. Last week in NYC, we bought food and were ensured that it didn’t have nuts. But we forgot to ask about sesame seeds/oil. No hospital this time, but she was unwell (vomiting) for the rest of the trip.

We are pretty vigilant. If her anaphylactic reactions were more severe (I.e. airway constricting) we would be much more strict. But this approval seems perfect for us, since it won’t change our routines, but means we’re not punished for accidents.

Re: FDA approves first medication to reduce allergic reactions to multiple foods

#120

Post by neomantra »

yosito wrote: post #42
DoreenMichele wrote: post #35

It's a 16 to 20 week course of treatment and reduces risk of anaphylaxis for accidental exposure to food allergens. There is at least one other drug that is used to treat peanut allergies, but this treats multiple food allergies. Given that anaphylaxis can be deadly and staff at food places can be sometimes less than reliable about food allergy concerns, I can see this being appealing to someone with severe food alle…

> staff at food places can be sometimes less than reliable about food allergy concerns As someone with Celiac disease, who often eats at restaurants, this is a bit of an understatement. Even in restaurants where things are marked allergen free on the menu, it is often the case that staff will make mistakes. More often than not, staff aren't even informed about the basics of food, things like eggs and dairy being two…

> staff at food places can be sometimes less than reliable about food allergy concerns

In 2000, I was working at an NYC restaurant (Josie's on Third) -- it was a new non-dairy health-focused organic-everything restaurant. The waitstaff was trained in all the ingredients and many of the sources and were highly conscious of needs of our customers. We were tested on it a staff meal.

One day, two friends sat to dine... we brought bread and our non-dairy spread. Customer asked "what is this?" I replied, "it is red-pepper tahini, an alternative to butter". I take their order, tend to other tables and arranging beverages, when I come back around 5 minutes later the table is empty. I ask my manager "what happened?"

The lady had a severe sesame allergy and was rushed to the hospital -- *she did not know that tahini was sesame paste and I did not tell her*. I have no idea what happened to her and I think about this several times per year.

For the last 15+ years, I have been a hands-on operator of complex computer systems operator. This experience has absolutely shaped how I communicate with teams, how I look at how failures may happen, how to expect the unexpected, etc.

I now have a son with peanut allergies. It also influences how we dine. It is not easy and I'm glad there's out-of-band solutions like these drug therapies. We are not there yet, but might consider it.

Post reply on HN