A new clinical trial conducted by researchers at Stanford Medicine showed that treatment with the medication Omalizumab allowed one-third of children with multiple food allergies to safely consume full portions of foods that had previously triggered life-threatening allergic reactions in them.
The study, published in the scientific journal JAMA Pediatrics, represents the second phase of a national clinical trial. Omalizumab is an injectable drug that blocks antibodies responsible for allergic reactions. In February 2024, based on the first phase of this same study, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized the medication as a means to protect patients from complications caused by accidental ingestion of small amounts of allergens.
The new study went further and evaluated whether the drug enables patients to regularly include allergy-inducing foods—including peanuts, milk, eggs, wheat, and tree nuts—in their diets.
In the trial, where the average age of participants was 7 years, two treatment methods were compared: a one-year therapy of Omalizumab alone and a combined approach (Omalizumab paired with oral immunotherapy). The results showed that in the Omalizumab-alone group, 36% of the children successfully consumed full portions of three different allergic foods, whereas in the combined therapy group, this figure was 19%—primarily due to premature discontinuation caused by side effects characteristic of immunotherapy.
According to the researchers, this discovery will allow pediatricians to tailor treatment to the individual needs and goals of each patient—whether that means protection against accidental exposure alone or safely reintroducing allergic foods into their daily diet.
