New drug to prevent food allergies

Nobel Laureate Barry Marshall, from The University of Western Australia, is developing a drug that restores balance to the immune system to help desensitise allergic responses to foods such as peanuts and shellfish.

Australia has one of the highest allergy rates in the world and over the last 10 years has seen a tenfold increase in referrals for food allergies and a fivefold increase in hospital referrals for food-related severe allergy or anaphylaxis. Professor Marshall explained that, “[when] children aren’t exposed to enough infectious or non-infectious bacteria, the immune system can get ramped up”.

“They then can become more reactive to all kinds of new proteins in their diet or susceptible to pollen in the air.”

The oral treatment, called Immbalance, works by harnessing the bacterium Helicobacter pylori, which naturally resides in the human gut and whose immune properties move the allergic response down into the normal range. Professor Marshall noted, “Studies in the USA show children infected with Helicobacter have a 45% reduction in allergies and asthma.

“Now in the 21st century, as Helicobacter is disappearing, humans in response have become hyperreactive to allergies. If we put Helicobacter back in a safe way, we can move allergic people back into a normal range.”

“By developing an oral product which contains non-viable Helicobacter, we can get the immune advantages that Stone Age man used to get by having live bacteria, with none of the disadvantages.”

Immbalance has been in development with Professor Marshall’s company, Ondek, for the past seven years and can be formulated as tablets, capsules, liquids or powder. Professor Marshall said, “Children could spread the powder on their cereal or put it in a drink and over the course of a few months could suppress their allergic response.”

Ondek will be looking to trial Immbalance in humans within two years and hopes to make the drug available within five years. According to Professor Marshall, the treatment will be 100% safe.

“It won’t remove your immune system; it will just take the edge off,” he said.