Oral Immunotherapy (OIT) is a treatment for food allergies that seeks to retrain the patient’s immune system to recognize an allergen as harmless.
OIT works by starting the patient on a minute dose of an allergen and increasing the amount over time with the goal of desensitizing them to inadvertent exposure.
Although an increasing number of allergists offer OIT for a range of food allergies, today there is only one FDA-approved biologic: Palforzia for the treatment of peanut allergy.
The University of South Florida (USF) has begun screening potential candidates for a trial of a new biologic that will treat allergies to 15 foods at once. The university is seeking to enroll 4 of the 72 total participants in a 20-site national study called HARMONY sponsored by Alladapt Immunotherapeutics.
The candidate therapy includes peanuts, almonds, cashew, hazelnuts, pecans, pistachios, walnuts, codfish, salmon, shrimp, sesame seed, soy, wheat, milk and eggs, according to Michelle Twitmyer, a clinical research coordinator for USF’s Asthma, Allergy and Immunology Clinical Research Unit.
“We don’t want somebody in the study who has more than five of those allergens,” Twitmyer says. “We want to make sure they are sensitive to at least one.”
The trial is open to participants ages 4 to 55. Those interested in participating in the study should call 813-631-4024.
Note of Disclosure: Palforzia is an advertiser with SnackSafely.com.
