Dear colleagues:
I recently testified before the Children and Families Subcommittee of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee of the United States Senate.
Initiatives including “Five Steps Forward for Food Allergy” are highlighted in this month’s AAAAI News President’s Message. I’d like to use this opportunity to share with you the portion of my testimony related to food allergy research.
In my 25 years in food allergy research, I have seen the field move from just trying to understand the manifestations of food allergy to the point where new therapeutic strategies are at hand, some now starting in human trials.
In recent years, experts have been convened to identify the most promising avenues of research on food allergy and anaphylaxis:
In March of 2006, the NIH Expert Panel on Food Allergy, convened by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID), released a report detailing an agenda of research questions that should be pursued if we are to succeed in identifying vaccines or improved treatments for food allergy. The report recommended additional basic and pre-clinical research on specific questions; clinical trials to evaluate promising new approaches to the prevention and treatment of food allergies; and expanded studies of the epidemiology and genetics of food allergy. The report also recommended that efforts be undertaken by the NIH and the FDA to resolve impediments to the design and conduct of clinical trials for the prevention and treatment of food allergy. Unfortunately, due to grossly inadequate funding, most of the research recommended in this report has not been pursued. In February of 2006, the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology published the report of a symposium on anaphylaxis convened by the NIAID, the Academy, FAAN and others. This report detailed an agenda of research questions to be pursued to enable us to better understand anaphylaxis and improve methods for prevention and treatment. Again, due to grossly inadequate funding, most of these research initiatives have not been pursued.
Dr. Anthony Fauci is to be commended for the initiatives the NIAID has undertaken in the area of food allergy. I have been fortunate to be funded by the NIH for the past 25 years to support my research in food allergy. In that period of time, the field has moved from just trying to understand the manifestations of food allergy to the development of new diagnostic and treatment modalities, several of which are now just starting in clinical trials.
However, I can tell you with absolute certainty that unless the Congress provides NIH with significant funding increases for research on food allergy and anaphylaxis, we will NOT make progress toward breakthroughs in the prevention and treatment of food allergies. In addition, an investment must be made in the training of researchers in the field of allergy to pursue a significantly expanded research agenda in the areas of food allergy and anaphylaxis.
FAAN is recommending annual increases of $10 million per year for five years (an additional $50 million over five years) to bring the budget for research on food allergy and anaphylaxis to a level that will allow us to pursue the research recommended in the two reports I have cited and to support the promising clinical trials underway. I strongly encourage this Committee to formally recognize this need and encourage the Appropriations Committee to provide this additional support at a minimum.
Sincerely,
Hugh A. Sampson, MD, FAAAAI
AAAAI President
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