The entire ALK-Abelló Group is well known for its extensive list of publications reporting research results on the nature of allergens, the mechanisms of immunotherapy, and the objective demonstration of immunotherapy efficacy. ALK-Abelló, Inc. continues this tradition by publishing the results of studies on our products produced and used in the U.S. Each year for the past decade we have presented detailed papers and posters at the ACAAI and AAAAI annual meetings. The section below contains a list of papers presented along with the full text of several recent presentations. For additional information, please contact our Technical Services Group.
Key Allergy Immunotherapy Scientific Papers
For many decades after the development of allergy immunotherapy there were few objective data in the medical literature supporting the efficacy of immunotherapy. Over the past decade many double blind placebo controlled trials have clearly demonstrated that immunotherapy is effective in preventing allergy symptoms, reducing the need for symptomatic drugs, improving the quality of life for those with allergies, and even preventing asthma development in children.
Allergy immunotherapy may cause adverse reactions that include local symptoms, systemic symptoms, and serious systemic reactions including anaphylaxis. Research is underway to investigate means of reducing serious adverse events associated with immunotherapy. Please review the prescribing information before using these products.
The section below lists a few of the key papers that are important in demonstrating the benefits of allergy immunotherapy. We will add more references, so be sure to check back regularly. If there are papers you think would be of interest to others, please send us an e-mail with your suggestions.
The abstracts to the papers cited can be found at the National Library of Medicine web site PubMed
Mite Immunotherapy Dose-response: In the field of allergy immunotherapy there have been just a few dose-response studies reported. In this study the authors recruited patients with dust mite allergy and treated them with placebo and 3 different levels of mite extract in their maintenance injections. They used the typical maintenance dose and doses that were 3-fold higher and 9-fold lower. The lowest dose was more effective than placebo, but less than the "standard" dose. The highest dose was no more effective, but caused more side effects.
Haugaard L, Dahl R, Jacobsen L. A controlled dose-response study of immunotherapy with standardized, partially purified extract of house dust mite: clinical efficacy and side effects.
Cat Immunotherapy Dose Response: This recent article examined the dose-response relationship in patients with cat allergy. The authors used maintenance doses of 0, 0.6, 3.0, and 15 µg of the cat major allergen Fel d 1. In this study the highest dose provided the most significant benefits.
J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2004 Dec;114(6):1339-44. Dose dependence and time course of the immunologic response to administration of standardized cat allergen extract. Nanda A, O'connor M, Anand M, Dreskin SC, Zhang L, Hines B, Lane D, Wheat W, Routes JM, Sawyer R, Rosenwasser LJ, Nelson HS