Hay fever breakthrough marks centre's anniversary
20 December 2006

A new pill may offer relief to many of the millions of people in the UK who suffer the discomfort of hay fever, a common trigger for asthma.

The new drug, which will be available from January 2007, provides immunity to the allergens contained in grass pollens. It is effective against all forms of grass pollen that cause hay fever in Europe.

Researchers at MRC-Asthma UK Centre in Allergic Mechanisms of asthma, in collaboration with colleagues from the UK and abroad, now plan to assess the long-term impact of the pill over the next five years.

The centre, which recently celebrated its first anniversary, has also launched a seven-year study in an attempt to find the best way to prevent peanut allergy, one of the most dangerous food allergies, for which cases among young people have doubled in the last 10 years. The study will aim to discover what factors cause people to develop the allergy in childhood.

The MRC-Asthma UK Centre, based at King's College London and Imperial College London, aims to further our understanding of what causes allergies and asthma, in order to develop new treatments.

Allergies in the UK have risen sharply over the last 20 years, with one in three people now being diagnosed with an allergy at some point in their lives.

There is a close link between allergies and asthma, with 70% of people with asthma reporting symptoms brought on by allergies and many also having allergic conditions such as conjunctivitis or eczema. In the UK 5.2 million people have asthma, with the nation's children experiencing one of the highest rates of the condition in the world.

The centre is a partnership between Asthma UK and the MRC, a national government-funded body that supports research to improve people's health. Asthma UK professors Tak Lee and Tim Williams are the centre’s directors.