Top in allergy/asthma: Understanding employment laws; barzolvolimab improves urticaria

Practice owners and directors should familiarize themselves with local and federal employment laws because the penalties for noncompliance can be severe, according to employment lawyer Penelope J. Phillips, JD.

Phillips spoke about common issues that practices encounter regarding employment law at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Annual Meeting.

“Saying ‘I didn’t know’ is not a valid defense when you get sued,” Phillips said.

It was the top story in allergy/asthma last week.

In another top story, a trial of barzolvolimab showed symptom improvements in patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria. Barzolvolimab is an anti-KIT monoclonal antibody that causes mast cells to die off.

Read these and more top stories from the AAAAI Annual Meeting below:

Speaker: Failure to understand employment law among most common practice mistakes

Failing to understand basic employment law is one of the most common mistakes that practices make, a speaker said. Read more.

Barzolvolimab kills mast cells to eliminate chronic spontaneous urticaria disease activity

Urticaria activity symptom scores improved with barzolvolimab among patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria, according to a presentation. Read more.

Lower household income linked to greater food allergy burden among children

Children from lower-income homes had more allergic reactions to food than children from higher-income households, according to a poster. Read more.

Patients experience rapid relief from hereditary angioedema attacks with sebetralstat

Patients with hereditary angioedema experienced rapid symptom relief with sebetralstat compared with placebo, research showed. Read more.

Patients with iodinated contrast media allergy have five-fold increased mortality risk

Allergy labels for iodinated contrast media were associated with increased mortality rates, researchers reported. Read more.