HealthDay News — For patients with asthma and allergic rhinitis with/without conjunctivitis (AR/C), treatment with a Timothy grass sublingual immunotherapy tablet (SLIT-tablet) may be safe, results of research published in Allergy indicate.
Using data from eight trials of grass SLIT-tablet in subjects with allergic rhinitis with/without conjunctivitis (AR/C), Jennifer Maloney, MD, of Merck & Co. in Whitehouse Station, N.J., and colleagues pooled data to determine impact. Data were included for 3,314 adults and 881 children, of whom 24% and 31%, respectively, had reported asthma.
No serious local allergic swellings or serious allergic reactions among SLIT-tablet-treated individuals with asthma were seen, noted the investigators. SLIT-tablet treatment was not associated with increased treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs), systemic allergic reactions, or severe local allergic swellings in adults or children with asthma, compared with those without asthma, in or outside of pollen season.
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There were six out of 120 asthma-related TRAEs assessed as severe with SLIT tablet treatment and two out of 60 with placebo; the trend was consistent among those with and without asthma.
“In the AR/C subjects with reported well-controlled mild asthma included in these studies, grass SLIT-tablet did not increase TEAE frequency, severe local allergic swelling, or systemic allergic reactions versus subjects without asthma,” concluded the researchers.
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Disclosures
Several authors disclosed financial ties (including employment) to pharmaceutical companies, including Merck & Co., which funded the study and manufactures MK-7243.
