ALK-Abello's Alutard cuts asthma risk

Danish drugmaker ALK-Abello says that a new study, published in the August issue of Allergy, confirms a long-time scientific belief that allergy vaccination with Alutard SQ early in the disease's development can reduce the risk of developing asthma in children suffering from allergic rhinitis due to grass and/or birch pollen allergy.

Allergic rhinitis is a major risk factor for later development of the life-threatening condition. In the PAT study, 45% of children with asthma not treated with Alutard SQ developed it later on. The agent is an immunotherapy consisting of aluminum hydroxide adsorbed insect venom extracts and the main results of its randomized, prospective, open-label, placebo-controlled follow-up investigation concluded that the risk of developing asthma decreased approximately 50% in the group of vaccinated children.

"The results of our seven-year follow-up analysis of these children following three years of treatment with Alutard SQ confirm our hypothesis that there is a treatment which can prevent asthma," said Bodo Niggemann, professor at the Department of Pediatric Pneumology and Immunology, Charite Hospital, Berlin, Germany. "The data is particularly convincing because the odds ratio of developing asthma between treated and non-treated children is consistent after three, five and now 10 years of follow-up," he added. In addition, symptom scores among the treated children remained significantly lower (p<0.05) than the in control group even after 10 years follow-up, stated ALK-Abello.