Treatment of allergic conditions

Abstract

Orally administered sodium cromoglycate has been found to be effective in the treatment of allergic conditions such as asthma, general food allergies, ulcerative colitis, atopic eczema, chronic urticaria and irritable bowel syndrome if it is presented such that the sodium cromoglycate becomes bioavailable within 10 minutes of exposure to intestinal fluid. The sodium cromoglycate may be presented as enteric-coated tablets or individually enteric-coated pellets or microgranules packaged with disintegrant in a ratio of at least 1.2:1 disintegrant:sodium cromoglycate (w:w). Optionally, the patients are first selected to have a total serum IgE level of at least 150 iu / ml.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09 / 831,681, filed on May 10, 2001, and entitled “TREATMENT OF ALLERGIC CONDITIONS”, which itself is a National Stage application submitted under 35 U.S.C. §363 of PCT Application No. PCT / GB99 / 03731, having a filing date of Nov. 9, 1999, which PCT application claims priority to Great Britain Patent Application Serial No. GB 9824604.4, the contents of which are herein incorporated in their entirety.FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates to the treatment of allergic conditions, in particular allergic conditions which relate to the nature of the food or drink consumed by the patient. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] Allergy to ingested substances can manifest itself in a wide range of symptoms affecting any organ in the body. Commonly it affects particularly the gastrointestinal tract, the skin, the lung, the nose and the central nervous system. Al...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

In addition, in severe food allergic reactions, the cardiovascular and respiratory systems can be compromised giving anaphylactic shock and in some cases death.

This vast array of symptoms and diseases presents the medical practitioner with tremendous problems of diagnosis and management.

In the absence of any reliable tests for food allergy other than double-blind, placebo-controlled, food challenges which are time-consuming, expensive and potentially dangerous, many practitioners are often reluctant to regard allergy as the cause, and rely on symptomatic treatment for management.

However, various clinical studies have failed to confirm that the oral formulation of sodium cromoglycate is adequately effective in inflammatory bowel disease and this indication was withdrawn in the early 1980's.

The enteric-coated formulations which have been proposed previously, at least on paper, similarly may be of low bioavailability because the sodium cromoglycate is released from the enteric coating into the duodenum in a lump that does not dissolve, rather than being dispersed evenly throughout the food material passing through the small intestine.