VIDEO: Omalizumab gives families with food allergy ‘some hope’ for normal lives
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Key takeaways:
- The FDA has approved omalizumab for treating multiple food allergies.
- The biologic’s protective effect may make the lives of families with food allergy “a bit more normal.”
WASHINGTON — Robert Wood, MD, FAAAAI, recounted the results of the OUtMATCH study to a standing-room-only crowd at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Annual Meeting.
When the presentation was over, the crowd gave Wood, his coauthors and the findings from the presentation, Omalizumab for the Treatment of Multiple Food Allergy, a standing ovation.
The results indicated that omalizumab (Xolair, Genentech/Novartis) was effective in protecting patients aged as young as 1 year with multiple IgE-mediated food allergies from type I reactions resulting from accidental ingestion.
Earlier this month, the FDA approved the biologic for these applications. The New England Journal of Medicine published the full results of the phase 1 of the study today.
Ahmar Iqbal, MD, a coauthor on the study and group medical director, respiratory lead, USMA, Genentech Roche, said the biologic does more than prevent potential anaphylaxis.
“It creates an option for physicians and patients to consider and hopefully give them some hope of maybe making their lives a bit more normal than what they live through right now,” Iqbal told Healio.
See the video above for more.