Names of Allergy Shots for Adults: SCIT, Extract Brands, and SLIT Tablets
The clinical name for an allergy shot in adults is subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) — the injection itself is not branded, but the FDA-licensed extracts inside it come from Greer Laboratories, ALK-Abelló, or Stallergenes Greer. The four FDA-approved sublingual branded alternatives are Grastek, Oralair, Ragwitek, and Odactra. Xolair (omalizumab) is also an allergy-related injection but is an anti-IgE biologic — not allergen immunotherapy.
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Allergy shots for adults are clinically called SCIT (subcutaneous immunotherapy). Extracts come from manufacturers Greer, ALK-Abelló, or Stallergenes Greer. FDA-approved branded sublingual tablet alternatives include Grastek, Oralair, Ragwitek, and Odactra.
Key facts
Across 2,897 patients treated with sublingual immunotherapy via telemedicine in 2026, no cases of anaphylaxis were reported — the safety difference that allows the sublingual route to be self-administered at home, unlike injections.
The essentials
The clinical name for an allergy shot in adults is subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) — there is no brand-name allergy shot in the US because the injection is a compounded allergen extract mixed per-patient by the prescribing allergist from FDA-licensed allergen extracts. The three major US extract manufacturers whose products fill those vials are Greer Laboratories (Lenoir, NC; FDA-licensed since 1904, US Lic. #308 for standardized cat hair extract), ALK-Abelló (US subsidiary of the Danish parent, FDA-licensed for standardized cat, dust mite, grass, and short ragweed extracts), and Stallergenes Greer (the merged entity post-2015).
Before evaluating whether SCIT extracts from Greer or ALK, an FDA-approved SLIT tablet, or Xolair fits a particular adult patient, Curex's at-home IgE testing with board-certified allergist review identifies the specific allergens driving symptoms — a necessary precondition for choosing among single-allergen tablets (Grastek for grass only, Ragwitek for ragweed only) versus multi-allergen SCIT compounding.
The closest thing to a branded allergy shot product in the US is actually a sublingual tablet — not an injection. The four FDA-approved SLIT tablets are: Grastek (Timothy grass, ALK, FDA April 14, 2014; ages 5–65 yr; 2,800 BAU per tablet; start 16 weeks before grass season); Oralair (5-grass mix covering sweet vernal, orchard, perennial rye, Timothy, and Kentucky bluegrass; Stallergenes Greer; FDA April 1, 2014; US label ages 10–65 yr); Ragwitek (short ragweed, ALK, FDA April 17, 2014; ages 5–65 yr; 12 Amb a 1 units per tablet; start 12 weeks before ragweed season); Odactra (house dust mite, ALK, FDA March 1, 2017; originally 18–65 yr, pediatric expansion to ages 5–65 with the 2025 label revision; 12 SQ-HDM units per tablet; year-round dosing).
A third disambiguation matters: Xolair (omalizumab, Genentech/Novartis) is FDA-approved for moderate-to-severe persistent allergic asthma since 2003 and for IgE-mediated food-allergy reaction prevention since February 16, 2024. Patients sometimes call Xolair an allergy shot, but it works by an entirely different mechanism — IgE neutralization via anti-IgE monoclonal antibody binding rather than allergen-specific tolerance induction. Xolair is weight-and-serum-IgE-dosed, not allergen-extract-dosed. It belongs to a separate product class from SCIT.
Medicare National Coverage Determination 110.9 excludes sublingual immunotherapy from Medicare Part B coverage; the four FDA SLIT tablets are pharmacy-benefit dispensed under Part D and may carry prior authorization requirements.
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At-home allergy shots (SCIT) are designed by board-certified allergists. See the listed SCIT plan rate in our pricing record and request a quote for eligibility, initiation and total care costs.
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Efficacy by allergen — what the data shows
The clinical efficacy of SCIT using standardized extracts from Greer, ALK, or Stallergenes Greer is well-established by Cochrane meta-analysis. Calderón MA et al. (Cochrane 2007; DOI 10.1002/14651858.CD001936.pub2; 51 RCTs, 2,871 patients) found a pooled symptom score standardized mean difference (SMD) of −0.73 and medication score SMD of −0.57, meaning SCIT reduces symptom burden by roughly 30–35% compared with pharmacotherapy alone. For adults specifically, Durham SR et al. (NEJM 1999;341:468–475) documented that 3 years of grass-pollen SCIT produced sustained clinical remission persisting 3 years after discontinuation — a disease-modifying benefit no antihistamine or nasal steroid replicates.
See if Curex's at-home allergy shot program fits you
If daily tablets or in-clinic visits aren't practical for your schedule, Curex's at-home allergy shot program may be worth checking your eligibility for.
See if you qualifyCurex allergy shot serum is compounded at a specialty pharmacy for each patient, and the FDA does not review compounded products for safety or efficacy.
Treatment options side by side
Adults comparing product options face three meaningfully different categories: compounded SCIT (Greer/ALK/Stallergenes Greer extracts in a per-patient vial), FDA-approved SLIT tablets (single-allergen branded products), and anti-IgE biologics (Xolair). No allergy immunotherapy product is a one-size-fits-all solution — allergen profile drives the choice.
| Treatment | Efficacy | Duration | Cost (5yr) | Convenience | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Compounded SCIT (Greer / ALK / Stallergenes Greer) | |||||
SLIT Tablets (Grastek / Oralair / Ragwitek / Odactra) | |||||
Xolair (omalizumab) |
- Efficacy
- Duration
- Cost (5yr)
- Convenience
- Safety
- Efficacy
- Duration
- Cost (5yr)
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- Efficacy
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- Cost (5yr)
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Curex delivers the same SCIT immunotherapy as a weekly at-home shot with pricing confirmed in a current program quote — a personalized serum sterile-compounded to USP <797>, prescribed and overseen by a board-certified allergist, with the first injection from each new vial or concentration supervised live in the Virtual Shot Room. It is built for adults who cannot reliably attend weekly in-clinic injections during the 24–28-week build-up phase.
Join the waitlistFrequently asked questions
What is the clinical name for allergy shots given to adults?
The clinical name is subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT). Clinicians also use the term allergen immunotherapy (AIT) or, historically, hyposensitization or desensitization therapy. The WHO 1998 position paper (Bousquet J et al., JACI 1998) prefers the term allergen vaccine in some international contexts. In the US, SCIT is the dominant clinical term per the AAAAI/ACAAI/JCAAI Practice Parameter Third Update (Cox L et al., JACI 2011). The injection itself is not branded — it is a compounded extract prepared by the prescribing allergist from licensed raw allergen materials supplied by manufacturers like Greer, ALK-Abelló, or Stallergenes Greer.
Which companies manufacture the extracts used in adult allergy shots?
The three major US allergen extract manufacturers are Greer Laboratories (Lenoir, NC; founded 1904; US Lic. #308 for standardized cat hair), ALK-Abelló (US subsidiary of the Danish parent; manufacturers of Grastek, Ragwitek, and Odactra SLIT tablets plus standardized SCIT extracts), and Stallergenes Greer (post-2015 merger of Stallergenes SA of France and Greer's European operations; manufacturer of Oralair). Additional manufacturers include HollisterStier Allergy and Nelco Laboratories. The FDA maintains a list of standardized allergen products with approved potency testing methods; nineteen allergen products have standardization status under current agency guidance.
What are the brand names of the SLIT tablets approved for adults?
Four tablet-form options have FDA approval in the US: Grastek (Timothy grass pollen, ALK, April 2014; ages 5–65 yr; 2,800 BAU per tablet; start 16 weeks before grass season), Oralair (5-grass mix including sweet vernal, orchard, perennial rye, Timothy, and Kentucky bluegrass; Stallergenes Greer, April 2014; ages 10–65 yr in the US label), Ragwitek (short ragweed, ALK, April 2014; ages 5–65 yr; 12 Amb a 1 units per tablet; start 12 weeks before ragweed season), and Odactra (house dust mite, ALK, March 2017; ages 5–65 yr after the 2025 label revision; year-round dosing). All four carry boxed warnings for anaphylaxis, require a supervised first dose, and require co-prescribing epinephrine.
Is Xolair the same as an allergy shot?
No. Xolair (omalizumab, Genentech/Novartis) is an anti-IgE monoclonal antibody injection — not an allergen extract immunotherapy. It works by binding free IgE antibodies in the bloodstream (IgE neutralization), reducing the IgE available to trigger allergic reactions. SCIT and the tablets above work by a different mechanism: repeated exposure to the causative allergen trains the immune system toward tolerance induction, shifting from IgE-driven Th2 responses toward IgG4 blocking antibodies and regulatory T cells. Dupixent (dupilumab) is another biologic injection, approved for related allergic conditions like eczema and asthma, that works through yet another pathway (blocking IL-4/IL-13 signaling) rather than allergen exposure. None of these biologics produces lasting allergen-specific tolerance the way repeated extract exposure aims to, and they generally must be continued indefinitely.
Do Medicare patients have to pay for allergy shots or SLIT tablets?
Medicare Part B covers SCIT (allergy shots) when administered in a physician's office or approved outpatient setting, including the allergen extract, injection, and physician supervision. The CMS 2025 Physician Fee Schedule allowed amounts for CPT 95115 (single-allergen injection) and 95117 (multiple-allergen injection per visit) are published in FR Doc 2024-25382. Medicare National Coverage Determination 110.9 explicitly excludes sublingual immunotherapy from Part B coverage; the tablets listed above are dispensed as pharmacy-benefit drugs under Part D and may require prior authorization. Beneficiaries should contact their plan for specific cost-sharing information.
Are there allergy shot brand names for specific allergens like cat or dust mite?
For SCIT injections, there are no brand names per injection appointment — the extract is compounded by the prescribing allergist from licensed bulk allergen materials. The extract manufacturers (Greer, ALK-Abelló, HollisterStier) supply standardized raw materials: for cat, the standardized product is cat hair/pelt extract with potency defined in bioequivalent allergy units (BAU/mL) per Greer license #308. For house dust mite, standardized Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus and D. farinae extracts are available from multiple manufacturers measured in AU/mL. For tablet options, Odactra covers house dust mite only — it is not the same as a compounded SCIT extract and doesn't cover cat, dog, or pollens.
How long do adult allergy shots take to start working?
Most adult patients notice meaningful symptom improvement within 6–12 months of starting allergy shots, typically after reaching and sustaining the maintenance dose for several months. The AAAAI/ACAAI Practice Parameter Third Update (Cox et al., JACI 2011) states that clinical improvement is usually observed within one year of reaching maintenance. Early symptomatic benefit may appear during the build-up phase as partial desensitization develops, but full disease-modifying benefit — the durable remission that persists years after stopping — requires completing the minimum 3-year course per Durham SR et al. (NEJM 1999;341:468–475). If no benefit is evident after 12 months at maintenance dose, the allergist should reassess allergen selection and dosing adequacy.
What are the alternatives to Curex for allergy immunotherapy?
The main alternatives are seeing a local allergist in person for traditional SCIT (allergy shots), getting a prescription for one of the four FDA-approved tablets (Grastek, Oralair, Ragwitek, or Odactra) through any prescribing doctor, or using another telehealth allergy company offering at-home testing and treatment. Each route differs mainly in convenience, in-person monitoring, and which allergens it covers — a local allergist can treat allergens a single tablet can't, while telehealth options trade some in-person supervision for convenience. The right choice depends on your specific allergens, how severe your reactions are, and how you prefer to manage treatment.
Is Curex FDA-approved?
Curex itself is a telehealth company, not an individual drug — 'FDA-approved' is a term for specific drug products, not for companies. Treatment that's compounded specifically for you by a pharmacy, which is how much personalized sublingual therapy works, falls into a category the FDA doesn't individually certify the way it does a packaged, mass-produced medicine. Separately, as covered above, the FDA has approved four specific tablets for sublingual immunotherapy. Ask your prescribing provider which category your specific treatment falls into.
Are allergy shots the same as allergy steroid shots?
No, these are two different things that share the word 'shot.' Allergen immunotherapy shots (SCIT) contain tiny, increasing doses of the actual allergen to retrain your immune system over years. A steroid injection (such as triamcinolone, sometimes called a 'Kenalog shot') instead suppresses inflammation broadly and temporarily to relieve severe symptoms during a bad flare — it doesn't address the underlying allergy and isn't meant for repeated long-term use. Ask your allergist which one, if either, fits your situation.
How much do Grastek, Oralair, Ragwitek, or Odactra cost?
Cost varies widely by insurance plan, pharmacy, and whether a manufacturer savings program applies, so there's no single universal price. Commercially insured patients typically pay a specialty-tier copay after any manufacturer savings card is applied; Medicare Part D requires prior authorization and applies standard Part D cost-sharing, with no manufacturer card available to Medicare beneficiaries. Check your specific formulary tier and ask your pharmacy for the exact current price, since list prices and coverage rules change over time.
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Curex at-home shots require a program quote. Confirm what is included in your plan — a personalized serum compounded to USP <797> sterile standards, board-certified allergist oversight, and one weekly injection you give yourself at home. No clinic visits, no facility fees. HSA/FSA eligible.
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Curex allergy shot serum is compounded at a specialty pharmacy for each patient, and the FDA does not review compounded products for safety or efficacy.
This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider with questions about a medical condition. Content reviewed by board-certified allergists at Curex.
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