An injectable drug called omalizumab now may be used to manage severe food allergies, the FDA has decided. Robert Wood, an allergy expert at Johns Hopkins, says the drug will only work if people are taking it. Wood: This is a therapy that will only work while you're on it. It's like our antihistamine that works while you're on it and then once you stop it it wears off, but is by no means automatically lifelong. If you want lifelong protection it's a lifelong therapy, for the family that is...

Omalizumab is an injectable drug just approved by the FDA to treat severe food allergies. Robert Wood, one author of a study used to inform the agency’s decision and an allergy expert at Johns Hopkins, says risks discerned in the study were very small, even for the youngest participants. Wood: The other question that we discussed with our patients is what are the risks of the treatment? One of the advantages we had doing this study was that because it's an old drug there was lots of...

Consequences of food allergies can be life-threatening, which is why FDA approval of omalizumab to treat them is welcome. Robert Wood, one author of a study used to inform the agency’s decision and an allergy expert at Johns Hopkins, says it’s not your imagination: food allergies are more common than they used to be. Wood: Estimated prevalence for children it's somewhere around 8% of all kids have true food allergy. That is probably twice as high as it was 30 years ago, I'd say probably...

Feeding very young children peanut products can assure that they don’t develop an allergy to peanut. Can this strategy be expanded to allergies to foods like milk, meat, or egg? Johns Hopkins allergy expert Robert Wood comments. Wood:  There’s an enormous market that's grown around this early introduction idea, so yes, you can buy lots of products that contain the major allergens in a form that babies can eat them. The same that's been shown for peanut is pretty clear for other allergens...

Can food allergies be outgrown? Elizabeth Tracey reports Most people know about peanut allergy, since it impacts a lot of people, especially children. Can these allergies be outgrown? Robert Wood, an allergy expert at Johns Hopkins, says for most, that’s wishful thinking. Wood: That includes everyone with peanut allergy, everyone with tree nut allergies. The odds are 80 to 90% that they will not. The odds are 70-80% they will outgrow something like a milk or egg allergy but the 20 or 30%...

If you have a severe allergy to one food, you probably have the same issues with other foods, as well as allergies to things like pollen that you inhale. That’s according to Robert Wood, principal investigator on a study that demonstrates the efficacy of a drug called omalizumab in managing these multiple allergies and an allergy expert at Johns Hopkins. Wood: Virtually all of our patients with food allergy have other forms of allergy and most have allergic rhinitis and asthma. While this...

Food allergies are very often multiple and begin in childhood. Does this mean the newly approved omalizumab, given by injection, must be taken for the rest of someone’s life? Robert Wood, principal investigator on the study used by the FDA to approve the drug and an allergy expert at Johns Hopkins, says maybe. Wood: Age doesn’t mean anything specific because for one family the highest risk might be the preschool age years. Another family might be the school age years, I just can't imagine...

The FDA has just approved a drug called omalizumab used to treat asthma to treat multiple, severe food allergy. Robert Wood, an allergy expert at Johns Hopkins and principal investigator on the study that demonstrated the drug’s efficacy, says the scope of approval is fairly broad.  Wood: So approved from age one through adulthood. There are a number of factors that may make one family more or less interested in doing this. The first of those is truly having multiple severe food allergies....

A drug called omalizumab has just been approved to treat severe food allergies. Robert Wood, Johns Hopkins allergy expert and principal investigator on a study proving the efficacy of this drug, says it’s needed because the strategy of feeding increasing amounts of foods people are allergic to often doesn’t work. Wood: There are lots of allergen specific treatments that are under investigation. One is FDA approved but that's for the whole world of food allergy there's only one approved...

Omalizumab is the chemical name for Xolair, an asthma medication that’s been around for decades that has just gotten FDA approval to treat food allergy. Robert Wood, an allergy expert at Johns Hopkins and one author of a recent study demonstrating the benefit of the drug for managing food allergies, is pleased about the outcome. Wood: It really took the kind of phase three study that the FDA was going to be looking for to have any hope that it might actually be an approved product for...

Myc, ras, BRCA…these are all shorthand for common cancer mutations, with a new study saying that’s how cancers should be identified rather than which organ or system they’re found in, since not knowing the mutations may delay proper treatment. Kimmel Cancer Center director William Nelson at Johns Hopkins disagrees. Nelson: I’m not sure it's the delay that he thinks it is. The biggest objection I have to it is that the whole reason you figure out where a cancer is is because you're going to...

All cancers carry mutations, and these should direct how they are named, NOT where they are located. That’s the stance of a new study finding that treatments that are targeted to the actual mutations a cancer carries rely on identifying said mutation. William Nelson, director of the Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, explains. Nelson: This is an argument that if you have a cancer that's a lung cancer with a particular mutation in a gene, that when it's defective or mutated as a driver of...

More cancers were diagnosed in 2023 than in the previous year, the American Cancer Society says, but cancer deaths are not rising at the same rate. William Nelson, director of the Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, says as our understanding of cancer grows there are a few things to keep in mind. Nelson: There are three factors that impact on developing cancers in adulthood typically. One are exposures in the environment, some of them related to lifestyle, diet, other habits. Some related...

While overall cancer deaths are continuing their decline, there are three that are still problematic, the most recent data from the American Cancer Society demonstrates. Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center director William Nelson names them. Nelson: The ones to watch for is the highest numbers of deaths are from lung cancer, colorectal cancer and pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer and liver cancer are slightly on the rise so that's one to really keep an eye on, they're tough cancers to...