Most patients include dietary consumption of allergy-triggering foods after gaining tolerance
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, March 3, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Omalizumab is superior to oral immunotherapy (OIT) for multifood allergy, and most patients include dietary consumption (DC) of allergy-triggering foods after gaining tolerance, according to two studies presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, held from Feb. 28 to March 3 in San Diego.
Robert Wood, M.D., from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, and colleagues compared omalizumab to OIT for multifood allergy in a randomized double-blind trial (OUtMATCH). All 117 participants received 16 weeks of open-label omalizumab; at week 9, OIT/placebo-OIT was initiated. Participants transitioned to blinded injection therapy (omalizumab or placebo) at week 16 for 44 weeks before being rechallenged. The researchers found that in the intent-to-treat analysis, omalizumab was superior for the primary end point of tolerance of ≥2,000 mg for all three foods (success, 36 versus 19 percent; odds ratio, 2.6).
Jennifer Dantzer, M.D., also from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and colleagues examined the introduction of allergenic foods after completing the placebo-controlled stage 1 of OUtMATCH. The first 60 participants entered a 24-week open-label omalizumab extension, followed by stage 3, off omalizumab, which could include DC, rescue OIT, or food avoidance. The researchers found that most (82 percent) of the initial treatment plans included DC. Success was defined as median daily consumption of ≥300 mg food protein by quarterly intervals over 12 months for those who started DC; success was higher for milk/egg/wheat than peanut/tree nuts (61 to 70 percent versus 38 to 56 percent).
“While the results of stage 3 are still preliminary, the majority of the first 60 participants were able to successfully introduce allergenic foods into their diet after stopping omalizumab,” Dantzer said in a statement.
The study was funded by Genentech and Novartis. Genentech supplied omalizumab for the trial.
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