One of the most common allergies in the world is food allergies. After almost a century of competencies and experiences, ALK is now expanding its product portfolio and venturing into new horizons: food.

Food allergies in most cases are problematic in that the only way to protect yourself is to avoid the allergen, which greatly affects the quality of life.

A peanut allergy occurs when a person’s immune system, which normally fights infections, does not recognize peanut protein and mistakenly overreacts to it. It is one of the foods that often cause severe allergic reactions called anaphylaxis. In some cases, just trace amounts of one milligram can trigger a reaction while a peanut weighs between 500 and 1,000 milligrams.

There is one authorized product for peanut allergy specifically on the market right now, but there is always space for improvement.

“We believe that we can make a real difference for people with food allergy. We are lucky to have some of the best minds working for us and mixing this with our strong commercial infrastructure, we are in the right position to expand our current product portfolio with new AIT products in the food allergy space. These will fuel ALK’s long-term growth and help the many people whose lives are severely impacted by food allergies,” says Henrik Jacobi, EVP R&D.

Even though a drug development program can take more than six years, and ALK is at the begging of this journey, the peanut program is now being prepared for clinical development.