Food Allergy company presents novel diagnostic showing promise as surrogate for oral food challenge
AllerGenis Announces Presentations at EAACI Congress 2023: Pathways From Precision Medicine to Personalized Health Care
PHILADELPHIA, PA - JUNE 7, 2023
Data-driven food allergy diagnostics company, AllerGenis Inc, today announced its activities at the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) Congress 2023, being held from June 9th through 11th in Hamburg, Germany. AllerGenis will have two presentations focused on improving the diagnosis and management of cow's milk allergy during the Congress.
Parents of children with milk allergy always want to know if a child can tolerate milk in baked products and when will they outgrow milk allergy.”
— Anna Nowak-Wegrzyn, M.D., Ph.D., NYU Grossman School of Medicine
The first presentation entitled, "Accurate phenotyping of baked- vs. non-baked milk allergic subjects using epitope-specific IgE antibody profiling", demonstrates performance which suggests a blood test could be useful as a safe surrogate for oral food challenges. Anna Nowak-Wegrzyn, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Pediatrics, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, and Director, Pediatric Allergy and Immunology Division Hassenfeld Children's Hospital, a co-author, will present the findings during two sessions Friday, June 9. "Parents of children with milk allergy always want to know if a child can tolerate milk in baked products and when will they outgrow milk allergy. Conventional allergy tests cannot provide conclusive answers to these burning questions without performing an oral food challenge. The new generation of epitope-based assays can refine the diagnostic process by predicting with high accuracy the risk of reaction to baked milk and helping to expand the diet with baked milk or to reinforce strict avoidance, if necessary", according to Dr. Nowak-Wegrzyn.
The company has also been selected to present a second abstract titled, "Prediction of sustained unresponsiveness to milk allergy oral immunotherapy using epitope-specific IgE antibody profiling", which also answers key questions surrounding management and treatment of milk allergies. "The epitope-based assays can also predict how likely the child will respond favorably to milk oral immunotherapy and achieve tolerance and help chose the optimal time to evaluate for sustained unresponsiveness (tolerance) with oral food challenge" added Dr. Nowak-Wegrzyn.
Jim Garner, CEO of AllerGenis stated, "We are enthused to be presenting during EACCI on our novel milk assay. Individuals with a milk allergy will benefit from knowing an accurate phenotype (raw vs baked) allowing them to establish an allergy management program including dietary and therapeutic options, for the first time from a blood test, and not solely based on the outcome of an oral food challenge." Garner adds, "The results which suggest that a blood test could be useful as a safe surrogate for food challenges is encouraging for those seeking clarity on their food allergy. Personalized health care is enabled first with precision diagnostics which impacts individuals, caregivers, clinicians, researchers, and therapeutic developers."
"The bead-based epitope assay (BBEA) may play a crucial role in making food immunotherapy more efficient and effective by aiding in the stratification of patients based on their likelihood to respond to immunotherapy. Immunotherapy is a promising approach for treating food allergies, but not all patients will benefit equally from this treatment", commented Dareen Siri, M.D., FAAAAI, FACAAI, FISAAI; CEO Midwest Allergy Sinus Asthma; PI, Medical Director, Sneeze, Wheeze, & Itch Associates Clinical Research; Assistant Professor, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine.
"The BBEA helps identify which patients are more likely to respond positively to immunotherapy and those for whom immunotherapy may not be suitable or necessary by providing valuable information on the patient's sensitization pattern. Patients who exhibit a strong and specific immune response to certain epitopes associated with the allergen may be good candidates for immunotherapy. Using the BBEA to stratify patients based on their immune response profiles, physicians, and food allergy experts like me can tailor treatment plans to the individual patient, increasing the chances of a successful treatment outcome", added Dr. Siri.