A new hay fever vaccine that could be on the market by 2011 has the potential to end sufferers’ seasonal misery, its developers say.
Treatments now require up to 90 shots over a period of three to five years. By contrast, the new vaccine, Pollinex Quattro, would be given in a series of four shots during a three-week period.
It initially eases hay fever by 13 percent to 27 percent, say its developers, who also believe it will cure hay fever altogether if the series of shots is taken every year for three years.
The vaccine works by stimulating a “good” immune response to nullify the allergic reaction triggered when allergy sufferers’ systems reject pollen as a foreign substance. The “good” response is brought about by elements of grass pollen and harmless, microscopic pieces of salmonella in the vaccine, which trick the immune system into believing it is under siege from a dangerous pathogen.
Keith Carter, head of Allergy Therapeutics, the British firm that manufactures it, said it is easier and faster to take than existing treatments. It will be prescription-only, and the four-shot treatment will cost about $750.
Tests on more than 1,000 hay fever sufferers showed that four shots reduced symptoms by about 13 percent to 27 percent.
The vaccine recently finished critical Phase III clinical trials. “Proof of efficacy and safety of Pollinex Quattro in this study is a breakthrough for allergy sufferers,” said lead researcher Tony Frew, allergy and respiratory medicine professor at the Brighton and Sussex Medical School.
“Patients showed significant and clinically meaningful improvement,” he told Medindia.
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