Allercept™ Immunotherapy Treatments
While steroid drugs are often used for short-term relief from the clinical signs of allergy, prolonged use of steroids can have serious side effects. Antihistamines, fatty acids, and shampoos can help, but typically provide only temporary and limited benefit. Immunotherapy is, by far, the safest, most effective treatment for pets with allergies.

Allercept™ Immunotherapy Treatments are offered in two options: Allercept™ Therapy Shots, delivered subcutaneously, and Allercept™ Therapy Drops delivered sublingually.

The process begins at the point of care with a simple blood draw that is submitted to the our Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. Patented Allercept™ allergen-specific IgE test identifies important allergens. Patient recommendations are based on Allercept test results, clinical history of the allergic animal, and geographic region.

While every animal responds differently, most patients respond positively to Allercept Immunotherapy Treatments, with most patients responding positively with 3 to 6 months. Effective immunotherapy can be sustained safely throughout the life of the patient. Read about Bernie’s Case

Allercept subcutaneous therapy is successful in ~70% of patients. In patients that have had adverse reactions or presented difficulties with administration of allergy shots, sublingual immunotherapy can be an effective treatment. Allercept Therapy Drops are delivered under the patient’s tongue in tiny amounts (2 pumps twice per day) in a series of specially-formulated treatment extracts with gradually increasing strengths. Allercept sublingual therapy is successful in ~60% of patients.

Diamond Animal Health, Inc., (DAH) a wholly owned subsidiary of Antech™, manufactures animal healthcare products based upon the timeless principles of quality and good manufacturing practices. DAH is a leader in contract manufacturing of USDA-regulated and licensed biologicals and an expert in the manufacture of FDA-approved pharmaceutical products for both large and small animals.

• DAH has two fully-functioning Quality Control laboratories ensuring all manufactured products comply with all applicable safety, purity, and potency requirements.
• DAH has a fully-integrated quality assurance (QA) team that provides continuous monitoring of manufacturing and testing processes as well as provides calibration and validation functions. This ensures a consistent and quality product at all times.
• DAH has an extensive raw material qualification process as well as a continuous raw material monitoring and testing program that also ensures consistent and quality product throughout the manufacturing process.
• DAH has a fully-integrated regulatory affairs team that ensures compliance with all applicable regulations, USDA or FDA, during the development, manufacture, and testing of all products.
• Immunotherapy is manufactured in a clean room environment with the added protection of extensive sterile gowning and containment hoods to ensure the highest quality product.
• Each patient therapy manufacturing record is triple checked by the QA team, providing additional assurance that each patient is receiving the exact product ordered.
• The immunotherapy manufacturing process utilizes personnel that are educated and extensively trained to perform their duties.
• The product is manufactured to ensure complete lot traceability for each treatment set.

An Allergy Assessment Unlike Any Other

Allercept™ offers the most sensitive and specific serum allergy assessment in the industry. Its patented technology can detect as little as 10 picograms of allergen-specific IgE to identify the source(s) of allergic reaction. And unlike many other serum IgE tests that can misidentify allergy sensitization based on the detection of allergen-specific IgG, Allercept’s high-affinity IgE receptor safeguards against such false positives.

Allercept’s panels are validated for dogs, cats, and horses. The simplicity of Allercept tests and treatment enables veterinarians in general practice to develop a core allergy practice, ensuring that many more allergic pets can be treated or referred to dermatology specialists.

Allergen-specific immunotherapy, or ASIT, modulates the immune response. Success with ASIT depends on accurate determination of the patient’s specific sensitivities, by either intradermal or serum IgE testing.

The mechanisms of ASIT are not completely understood, but it is clear that several different cells and processes in the immune system are affected. Dendritic cells, also called antigen-presenting cells, are cells throughout the skin, gut, and mucosal surfaces whose function is to grab onto allergen molecules. They then travel to a local lymph node, and “instruct” the immune system how to further respond. ASIT causes dendritic cells to induce production of molecules and cells such as regulatory T-lymphocytes, which further downregulate the immune response. Immunotherapy works to restore immune response back to normal Th1 (IgG) from the misdirected Th2 (IgE). It is a downregulation of IgE / upregulation of IgG.

Extracts of the identified allergens are mixed together and administered to the patient by subcutaneous injection, starting with very tiny doses and gradually building up to very large doses. This treatment was formerly called “desensitization” or “hyposensitization” and is often referred to in lay terms as “allergy shots.”

Allergy shots are not an effective treatment for some patients due to lack of efficacy, difficulty in administration, or adverse reactions. In these cases, sublingual immunotherapy can be an effective option.

Administered beneath the tongue, Allercept™ Therapy Drops provide a simple option for relief.

Sublingual immunotherapy allows specific antigens placed under the tongue to induce immunologic tolerance. Multiple mechanisms are involved and include the production of anti-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-10 and the induction of regulatory T-cells.

The mucosal area under the tongue is a privileged immunological site with unique characteristics consisting of:

A physical barrier (mucosa) Local immune cells

• High concentration of dendritic cells and T-cells
• Low concentration of mast cells, basophils and eosinophils

This allows for:

• Differentiation of pathogens from harmless antigens
• Muting of immediate and delayed allergic responses
• Tolerance of mucosally delivered allergens

Our proprietary technology for sublingual administration was developed as a veterinary-specific variation based on a unique, time-tested and highly efficacious human protocol. In efficacy trials with hundreds of atopic dogs treated by veterinary dermatologists in varying geographic areas of the U.S., approximately 60% of dogs demonstrated substantial improvement in their clinical signs. Approximately 50% of dogs that showed no improvement or could not tolerate allergy shots, showed improvement when treated with allergy drops.

Allercept Therapy Drops can even be used safely in dogs that have experienced a prior anaphylactic reaction to allergy shots. If the patient has a history of prior anaphylactic reaction to allergy shots, please contact Antech Medical and Technical Consultants at 1-800-464-3752, option 5.

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