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FDA approves first medication to reduce allergic reactions to multiple foods

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

#41

Post by gnicholas »

monero-xmr wrote: post #18
gnicholas wrote: post #7

From what I read of this, it's very expensive (thousands/mo), requires at least monthly injections at a facility, has a risk of anaphylaxis (so the injections can't be done at home), doesn't eliminate the risk of allergic reactions, and has no off-ramp (so you have to take it forever). Not exactly a silver bullet... My first thought was that it could be good for kids, who are less good at checking for trace amounts o…

It’s annoying to read “so and so new drug costs too much.” Creating new drugs is absurdly expensive. Most new drugs target small population groups, which is why treatments do not already exist - the low hanging fruit with large market potential gets targeted first. Just be happy a flag is planted in the ground. New drugs will be created from this that are different enough to avoid the patent, and new research will en…

Don't be annoyed — my comment was not focused just on cost. The point is that it's very expensive and also not that good. I have food allergies in my family and have talked with other families that are ostensibly in the key demographic. We are not impressed. I wouldn't complain about a drug that was a silver bullet, but was quite expensive.

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

#42

Post by yosito »

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 separate foods, or that they can't just scrape some sauce off of a bun if they put it there by mistake, etc. If I had a life threatening allergy, I would never set foot in a restaurant. It's terrifying.

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

#43

Post by gnicholas »

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…

> It's a 16 to 20 week course of treatment

The study refers to checking patients after this many weeks, but my understanding is that you're supposed to keep taking it forever. From NPR:

> The medication is not intended for use during an allergic reaction. Instead, it is designed to be taken repeatedly every few weeks to help reduce the risk of reactions over time.

1: https://www.npr.org/2024/02/18/1232304606/fda-approval-food-...

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

#44

Post by sundvor »

8ig8 wrote: post #36
spondylosaurus wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Longtime Xolair patient here: as far as cost goes, there are copay programs that knock the price down to $5/mo, but the catch is that you have to be insured (via commercial health insurance, not Medicare/Medicaid) to qualify. A lot of drug manufacturers offer these programs: the bargain is essentially that they'll cover the brunt of your copay cost so long as your insurance company is still paying for the rest of it.…

So hard to believe that this is so complicated. People’s lives and health. I wish it was easier.

Move to Australia? On a script, cost is AUD $31.60 per syringe, a rather stark saving from $410 . I wonder how that latter price compares to the price in the US, I couldn't quite get the prices I read without insurance to compute in my head.

https://www.health.gov.au/ministers/the-hon-greg-hunt-mp/med...

https://m.pbs.gov.au/medicine/item/10109c-10110d-10118m-1012...

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

#45

Post by yosito »

kortex wrote: post #40
dukeofdoom wrote: post #17

[flagged]

A) hygiene hypothesis, people ate way more dirt and straight up almost everyone had worms B) the people with really bad food allergies like Coeliac just died young. We have severe amnesia when it comes to just how rough the state of health was until basically the 50s (eradicating Polio is a big turning point). Fortunately, we can learn about history so we don't repeat it :massive eyeroll:

> really bad food allergies like Coeliac

Coeliac is just a word that means "relating to the abdomen", Coeliac Disease is a disease of the abdomen characterized by an immune response to gluten that causes the villi in the intestines to consume themselves, among other characteristic symptoms. Coeliac (or Celiac) Disease is not a food allergy.

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

#46

Post by modeless »

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…

The study lasted 20 weeks, but I believe you have to continue the treatment indefinitely if you want the effects to continue. It's not a permanent fix, and a once or twice monthly injection for the rest of my life is not something I'd like to sign up for.

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

#47

Post by derwiki »

lettergram wrote: post #28
modeless wrote: post #8

I've been following this closely. I'm most interested in Xolair (and another one, Dupixent) as a way to make oral immunotherapy (OIT) safer and more effective. Xolair can reduce reactions for sure, but it can't get people to the point where they can actually eat normal serving sizes of their food allergens. Oral immunotherapy can do that. And Xolair is a twice monthly injection. Nobody wants to do that for the rest o…

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.

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

#48

Post by yosito »

dukeofdoom wrote: post #17

[flagged]

They feed us poison, so they can sell us the cure. I believe that food additives and artificial foods are one of the main culprits for the increase in food allergies. That doesn't mean that the food allergies aren't real, or that this drug doesn't really treat them. Just that there are some insidious forces at play here as well and that if we ate a better diet, free of poisons, we might not need quite as many of these extreme medical technologies to fix the problems the industrial way of life has created for us (while simultaneously solving many other problems).

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

#49

Post by teen »

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…

maybe you're just allergic to glyphosate, not wheat. glyphosate is in pretty much everything now

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

#50

Post by DoreenMichele »

gnicholas wrote: post #43
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…

> It's a 16 to 20 week course of treatment The study refers to checking patients after this many weeks, but my understanding is that you're supposed to keep taking it forever. From NPR: > The medication is not intended for use during an allergic reaction. Instead, it is designed to be taken repeatedly every few weeks to help reduce the risk of reactions over time. 1: https://www.npr.org/2024/02/18/1232304606/fda-appr…

9

Duration of Therapy

The appropriate duration of therapy for IgE-mediated food allergy has not been evaluated.

Periodically reassess the need for continued therapy.

https://www.gene.com/download/pdf/xolair_prescribing.pdf

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