Specific immunotherapy

The prevalence of atopic allergic disease increased substantially towards t he end of the 20th century and is set to rise further. This group of diseas es now constitutes the most common cause of chronic ill health in industria lised countries. Despite considerable attention from the pharmaceutical ind ustry, little progress has been made in the development of disease-modifyin g therapies. In contrast, recent activity has focused almost exclusively on treatment of symptoms (palliation) rather than cause. The failure of palli ative approaches to address the issue of increasing incidence of disease is in evidence in the case of allergic diseases and is a continuing focus of concern. At present, the most frequently employed non-palliative form of di sease-modifying therapy is specific allergen immunotherapy (SIT) in which i ncreasing doses of whole allergen extract are administered in increasing do se in order to desensitise the allergic subject.