Originally published on Substack.
There are 3 cornerstones of allergy treatment: Avoidance, Medical Management and Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy is the “unfair advantage” over your allergies and the only way to treat them at the source. In this blog, I will answer common questions about immunotherapy and explain why this is a treatment option that any allergy sufferer should strongly consider.
Allergy immunotherapy is the repeated administration of medical-grade allergen extracts to individuals with allergies in order to build tolerance and decrease their reactivity to their allergens. The goal is to provide long-term relief from allergy symptoms and improve your quality of life by reducing reactions to allergens in the future.
Each immunotherapy treatment is customized to the individual patient based on your medical history, test results, and lifestyle needs.
The goal of allergy immunotherapy is to reduce your allergy symptoms such sneezing, sniffling, stuffiness and itching. As a result you should also be able to decrease your need for allergy medications and enabling you to live a healthier, more productive life.
Allergy medications such as antihistamines (e.g. Benadryl, Zyrtec, Claritin, etc.) and nasal steroids (e.g., Flonase, etc.) offer short-term relief in symptoms by treating the body’s response to the allergic reaction. These medications are convenient and many cases don’t require a prescription.
Immunotherapy is a prescription treatment—prescribed and supervised by an experienced clinician —that aims to train the immune system not to have an allergic reaction in the first place. Thus, immunotherapy improves your symptoms by treating the source of your allergies and decreases your need for ongoing medications. This treatment has been used by physicians in the U.S. and Europe for more than 100 years and has helped millions of patients.
Once your clinician establishes a diagnosis, by evaluating your medical history, symptoms and allergy testing, they’ll formulate receive a customized prescription to target your specific allergies.
Immunotherapy is exposure therapy in which your body is exposed to tiny, medical-grade doses of allergens over a long period of time. This trains your immune system not to overreact to the allergen. Essentially, you become inoculated to the allergens, similar to what happens when you get vaccinated.
Immunotherapy has a long history of successfully treating allergic rhinitis and conjunctivitis caused by environmental allergies. It can also improve allergy-induced asthma, eczema, and a variety of other allergy-related conditions. Commonly treated allergies include pollen, dust, weeds, pets, mold.
Allergies to food, bee and insect venom, medicine, chemicals can also be treated with immunotherapy and normally require in-person observation by a clinician.
Sublingual tablets treat only one allergy at a time. The sublingual tablets that are currently FDA approved treat dust mite (Odactra), ragweed (Ragwitek), Timothy grass (Grastek) and a 5-Grass Mixture (Oralair).
Subcutaneous and sublingual drop immunotherapy allow for the treatment of several allergens at once including trees, grasses, weeds, dust, pets, and molds. Experienced clinicians customize the combination of allergens for each individual patient.
***Includes consultation with a Curex Medical provider, pharmacy fulfillment and Curex Inc. platform fees. Does not include allergy testing costs.
Yes, sublingual and subcutaneous immunotherapy are both proven to be effective ways to target the source of allergies¹⁻². Studies have shown the sublingual method has a lower risk for anaphylaxis, allowing you to take it at home or while traveling. As a result, they are more convenient and generally more affordable.
Sublingual immunotherapy is prevalent in many countries³. For example, nearly 90% of immunotherapy treatments in France are administered sublingually.
In the U.S., sublingual immunotherapy has existed for almost 40 years. It has historically had low adoption due to limited insurance coverage and no clear FDA approval. This changed recently when the FDA cleared several sublingual tablets after reviewing clinical data on efficacy and safety.
In addition, most allergy clinics are highly experienced with in-person care required for allergy shots, but are less well suited to provide telemedicine supervision appropriate for sublingual immunotherapy.
Curex (http://getcurex.com) is an innovative telehealth platform that unites allergy clinicians, allergy-testing labs and leading pharmacies for your convenience.
Founded during the COVID pandemic, Curex provides trusted allergy care online and expands access to life changing allergy immunotherapy for the 50 million Americans who need it.
