Re: Glad I am not in that small 0.1%

[Guest guest]

yes that is all good but it can happen anytime.

uca79iii <uca79iii@...> wrote: I have

been on Xolair since September 2003. Two shots every two weeks.

After all those shots, not ONE reaction. Nada, Zip an Zilch! I can't

even tell where the injection was given 5 minutes later.

I cant count how many of my regular allergy shots hurt swolen up

around the injection site. Xolair never has.

I sure am glad I am not in that very small 0.1%

Doug

Group Founder

---------------------------------

Now that's room service! Choose from over 150,000 hotels

in 45,000 destinations on Travel to find your fit.

[Guest guest]

For the record, and I realize this maybe a minority opinion on here, we all

belong to a subset of the same sort of highly allergic population and as such I

take the FDA instructions seriously. It's not worth it to me to faint or have

to rely on some paramedics--they can't even find my veins.

jane mosher <janeannmosher@...> wrote:

yes that is all good but it can happen anytime.

uca79iii <uca79iii@...> wrote: I have

been on Xolair since September 2003. Two shots every two weeks.

After all those shots, not ONE reaction. Nada, Zip an Zilch! I can't

even tell where the injection was given 5 minutes later.

I cant count how many of my regular allergy shots hurt swolen up

around the injection site. Xolair never has.

I sure am glad I am not in that very small 0.1%

Doug

Group Founder

---------------------------------

Now that's room service! Choose from over 150,000 hotels

in 45,000 destinations on Travel to find your fit.

[Guest guest]

Not to be argumentative, Doug, but if this group is at all representative, the

one tenth of one percent you refer to is way out of whack. I kind of wonder

where that figure comes from, and how current it is. My pulm. doc just

prescribed EpiPens for me just in case I get another reaction. Personally, I

think xolair is great, but not all the reactions or side effects are known yet.

For that matter, it seems the whole allergy situation is obviously not very well

understood. From all the various and conflicting episodes about allergies and

reactions related on this site, it appears medical science has a lot to learn

and doctors, especially, need to get a better grasp of and about the allergy

problem.

Terry

[Guest guest]

Doug,

I also had lots of awful reactions to allergy shots and several

times required treatment. Couldn't get beyond the mildest level

without a reaction. Unfortunatley, I think perhaps that's led to

some major misunderstanings.

The two substances are entirely different and work in entirely

different ways I'm told. Otherwise, I would not agree to Xolair (if

I do ever in fact get the injection!). I think some people just lump

together " allergy shots " as being all one and the same and they're

not. I doubt that there's any relationship between being injected

with material to which I am known to be highly sensitive and a

substance that's supposed to stop the allergic process.

I'd really, REALLY like to know what happened in a documented

case of reaction to Xolair where there was no issues of coming off

steroids or extra exposure to allergens around the same time. i.e.,

real true reaction to Xolair. Someone please explain to me how it

happens - what is the mechanism?

Thanks

I

have been on Xolair since September 2003. Two shots every two weeks.

> After all those shots, not ONE reaction. Nada, Zip an Zilch! I

can't

> even tell where the injection was given 5 minutes later.

>

> I cant count how many of my regular allergy shots hurt swolen up

> around the injection site. Xolair never has.

>

> I sure am glad I am not in that very small 0.1%

>

> Doug

> Group Founder

>

>

>

>

>

>

> ---------------------------------

> Now that's room service! Choose from over 150,000 hotels

> in 45,000 destinations on Travel to find your fit.

>

>

[Guest guest]

I, too, would like more info about the .1%. not that I'm worried,

but I want to know things like

1) how many of those people ever had an anaphylactic reaction prior

to Xolair.

2) did they have exposure to anything else that might have triggered

the reported reaction?

3) what is the percentage of patients and doctors reporting

reactions to Xolair vs the average percentage of reports on other

drugs (for instance, are Xolair docs and patients reporting things

that they might not otherwise report since Xolair is so special)

4) like you, I want to know what is the mechanism for the

anaphylactic reaction.

5) do these folks have an associated or additional condition that

might make them more prone to have an anaphylactic reaction that

would indicate that that condition in combination with Xolair creates

a slightly higher risk?

Addy

Group co-owner

pleased to announce that spring has come to North Carolina and my

sinuses are protesting. Or maybe they're protesting the fact that

the Duke men's AND women's basketball teams both lost to State in the

first round of the ACC tournament. (Not that it isn't State's turn,

b/c they are long overdue, God bless 'em) Insert your own soapbox

statement here.

I

> have been on Xolair since September 2003. Two shots every two weeks.

> > After all those shots, not ONE reaction. Nada, Zip an Zilch! I

> can't

> > even tell where the injection was given 5 minutes later.

> >

> > I cant count how many of my regular allergy shots hurt swolen up

> > around the injection site. Xolair never has.

> >

> > I sure am glad I am not in that very small 0.1%

> >

> > Doug

> > Group Founder

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> > ---------------------------------

> > Now that's room service! Choose from over 150,000 hotels

> > in 45,000 destinations on Travel to find your fit.

> >

> >

[Guest guest]

Xolair is what is called a humanized monoclonal antibody. This kind

of antibody is created in the lab by attaching a piece of a mouse

antibody to a backbone of a human antibody. In the case of Xolair,

the piece of mouse antibody comes from whole mouse anti-IgE, that is

antibody developed against IgE, specifically against the portion of

the IgE molecule that attaches to mast cells to trigger allergic

reactions. The portion of the anti-IgE antibody that binds to the

mast cells is the piece of mouse antibody that is then attached to a

backbone of human antibody. So Xolair is a mouse-human chimera.

Antibodies are very large proteins and any protein can act as an

allergen (as can a number of other types of molecules, even

steroids). Since Xolair is partly mouse protein, a foreign substance,

it's easy and reasonable to theorize that it can be an allergic

trigger.

The application Genentech made to the FDA for approval of Xolair

(http://www.fda.gov/cder/biologics/review/omalgen062003r1.pdf)

documents 3 anaphylactic reactions that were assessed by the

investigators to be related to Xolair. In each case, the anaphylactic

reaction occurred 1.5-2 hours after the injection. Other allergic

reactions, inlcuding hives and other rashes, itching, facial

flushing, and facial swelling, were also documented and assessed to

be related to Xolair. You can read about these cases starting on page

84 of the study at the website I gave above.

I hope you find this information to be illuminating and interesting!

Even though the percentages of anaphylactic reactions (0.1%) and

other adverse reactions prompting discontinuation of Xolair(2%)are

small, it behooves us all to recognize that there is no way of

predicting who will or will not react in an adverse way and we should

protect ourselves by erring on the side of caution in terms of

waiting after receiving an injection.

This is no different than for allergy shots themselves, which can

cause serious 1st and subsequent reactions even after years of

uneventful injections for a given patient. And, as I've mentioned in

a previous post, deciding to start or continue Xolair treatment is

like anything else - you and your doctor need to weigh risks vs.

benefits for your individual situation before making the decision.

Fran

I

> have been on Xolair since September 2003. Two shots every two weeks.

> > After all those shots, not ONE reaction. Nada, Zip an Zilch! I

> can't

> > even tell where the injection was given 5 minutes later.

> >

> > I cant count how many of my regular allergy shots hurt swolen up

> > around the injection site. Xolair never has.

> >

> > I sure am glad I am not in that very small 0.1%

> >

> > Doug

> > Group Founder

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> > ---------------------------------

> > Now that's room service! Choose from over 150,000 hotels

> > in 45,000 destinations on Travel to find your fit.

> >

> >

[Guest guest]

( I think) says that the antibodies are actually chinese

hamster. So I'm guessing that in addition to paying for all those

wonderful clinical trials, we are paying some sort of tarriff

(spelling) for importing the hamsters from china. I wonder if

they're required to prove that they can't find work in their own

country or if their required to prove that good old North American

hamsters won't provide the required antibodies for a particular

reason.

No, Terry, State's gotta beat Carolina tomorrow. You know the rules.

Addy

I

> > have been on Xolair since September 2003. Two shots every two

weeks.

> > > After all those shots, not ONE reaction. Nada, Zip an Zilch!

I

> > can't

> > > even tell where the injection was given 5 minutes later.

> > >

> > > I cant count how many of my regular allergy shots hurt swolen

up

> > > around the injection site. Xolair never has.

> > >

> > > I sure am glad I am not in that very small 0.1%

> > >

> > > Doug

> > > Group Founder

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > > ---------------------------------

> > > Now that's room service! Choose from over 150,000 hotels

> > > in 45,000 destinations on Travel to find your fit.

> > >

> > >

[Guest guest]

But Terry, remember that Xolair is a mouse-human chimera. Humans are

very, very, very expensive!!!

The real answer to your question is that phramaceutical companies

invest a lot in research and development, blah, blah, blah......and

are very, very, very greedy.

Fran

I

> > have been on Xolair since September 2003. Two shots every two

weeks.

> > > After all those shots, not ONE reaction. Nada, Zip an Zilch!

I

> > can't

> > > even tell where the injection was given 5 minutes later.

> > >

> > > I cant count how many of my regular allergy shots hurt swolen

up

> > > around the injection site. Xolair never has.

> > >

> > > I sure am glad I am not in that very small 0.1%

> > >

> > > Doug

> > > Group Founder

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > > ---------------------------------

> > > Now that's room service! Choose from over 150,000 hotels

> > > in 45,000 destinations on Travel to find your fit.

> > >

> > >

[Guest guest]

Oops, you're right, Xolair is part Chinese hamster and part human.

Besides asthma, I have ABS (Aging Brain Syndrome). Sorry about that.

Fran

I

> > > have been on Xolair since September 2003. Two shots every two

> weeks.

> > > > After all those shots, not ONE reaction. Nada, Zip an

Zilch!

> I

> > > can't

> > > > even tell where the injection was given 5 minutes later.

> > > >

> > > > I cant count how many of my regular allergy shots hurt

swolen

> up

> > > > around the injection site. Xolair never has.

> > > >

> > > > I sure am glad I am not in that very small 0.1%

> > > >

> > > > Doug

> > > > Group Founder

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > > > ---------------------------------

> > > > Now that's room service! Choose from over 150,000 hotels

> > > > in 45,000 destinations on Travel to find your fit.

> > > >

> > > >

[Guest guest]

--- In , " tiredofsteroids " <sitesee@...>

wrote:

>

> But Terry, remember that Xolair is a mouse-human chimera. Humans are

> very, very, very expensive!!!

Haven't you ever noticed how expensive Chinese Food can be and then

you feel hungry one hour afterwards?? <same principle>