Novel strategies for the treatment of allergy

Both the increased knowledge of the mechanisms leading to allergy and the advent of molecular biology have offered a fertile soil for introducing new ideas for the control of allergic diseases. The control of the environment is no longer fashionable. The large majority of patents deal with either new forms of allergens, fragments of allergens and formulation, or interventions at the level of non-specific modifiers of the anti-allergen immune response. This review offers a synopsis of such recent patent applications in the field of allergy, with emphasis on the various aspects by which they integrate in the rapidly moving knowledge combining cell biology and animal models.