Allergen immunotherapy: what’s new, what’s next?

Abstract

Although three sublingual immunotherapy tablets have been approved in the USA and more are under study, it is not clear that sublingual immunotherapy tablets will answer the needs of many patients in the USA, and this is due to the limited number of allergens that will be offered. Alternatives that employ off-label, currently available extracts hold the greatest likelihood of entering the US allergy practice. Those approaches that employ recombinant technology to produce hypoallergenic products face a long and expensive pathway to approval. Which of the many approaches under study will make it to the market is presently not clear.

Keywords:

• epicutaneous
• immunotherapy
• intradermal
• intralymphatic
• recombinant technology
• subcutaneous
• sublingual

Financial & competing interests disclosure

HS Nelson has been a consultant for Merck and a consultant and investigator for Circassia. The author has no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.