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FDA approves allergy treatment for children

The FDA approved levocetirizine dihydrochloride (Xyzal, UCB, Sanofi-Aventis) for children age 6 months and older for perennial allergic rhinitis and chronic idiopathic urticaria and for children age 2 years and older for symptoms of seasonal allergic rhinitis. Previously, the medication was used to treat these symptoms in patients ages 6 years and older.

“The availability of a liquid treatment with the established safety and efficacy of Xyzal provides caregivers a new treatment option that can help relieve nasal allergy symptoms in young patients once diagnosed by a physician,” said Michael Blaiss, MD,clinical professor of pediatrics and medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.

Blaiss said that this approval provides pediatricians options to treat children with allergic rhinitis. He participated in a study published in the September issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology that concluded many physicians “overestimate patients’ and parents’ satisfaction with disease management and the benefit of medications used for the treatment of nasal allergies in children.”

He also said the Pediatric Allergies in America study revealed that allergies peak at two times a year, in the spring and fall, making the medication’s approval very timely.