Allergic diseases are a major health problem that affects millions of people
worldwide. They constitute the fifth most common chronic diseases in all ages, and the
third most frequent in children. The human and economic loads associated with these
conditions are severe and harmfully affecting the socioeconomic welfare of the community.
Anti-allergy drugs are the broad term for drugs known to treat allergic reactions. Starting
from the second part of the 19th century where black coffee (a drink with a high content of
theophylline) was prescribed as a treatment for asthmatic patients, to the first half of the
20th century where bronchodilators were used as over the counter medicine for asthma. Due
to their slow action and quite low efficiency rate, the development of anti-allergy drugs was
criticized at its early stage. Most of current anti-allergy drugs' mode of action is to either
prevents the release of inflammatory mediators or inhibits the actions of these mediators on
their target cells. Current therapeutic approaches are effective in treating only the
symptoms of allergic diseases, not preventing the start of allergies. Lately, major advances
in the understanding of allergic diseases have been achieved; as a result, new treatment
modalities have been designed: DNA vaccines with Th1-promoting properties and
balancing Th2-mediated immune reactions became a promising substitute for
immunotherapy against allergy. Alteration of IgE binding sites, i.e. allergens epitopes, as
well as new antibodies directed against human IgE could be another approach to attenuate
allergic reactions as well as treatment with an enterovirus vaccine. Other potential new
methods for treatment are the use of anti-cytokine directed therapy e.g. anti-TNF alpha,
anti-IL-13 antibodies and the use of Toll-like receptor modulators. While there are
numerous possible strategies to develop a new drug every day, treatments that aim at
immune deviation, immunotherapy with its modalities, have gained significant attention as
they may hold the hope of modifying the disease or reaching a long-term cure. The present
chapter describes the current as well as new patents as well as the promising medications in
the treatment of allergy.
Keywords: AIT, allergic asthma, anti-CD63, anti-CD63, antihistamines, anti-IgE,
anti-IL-13, corticosteroids, desensitization, eosinophils, IFN-γ, IgD, IL-17,
immunotherapy, mast cells, neutrophils, NSAIDs, probiotic therapy, TGF-β, Th2
cytokines, TLR, TNF-α inhibitors, treg cells.
