Maintain pressure on reforms to protect NHSHay fever drug Grazax offers little benefit
The hay fever drug Grazax, a sublingual tablet containing standardised allergen extract of grass pollen, is not cost effective, the Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin has concluded.
The effects of the drug, which was launched in England in 2008 and costs £67.50 for 30 tablets, on symptoms appear to be modest compared to placebo and patients still need to use symptomatic treatments, such as antihistamine tablets and corticosteroid nasal sprays, the DTB said.
Having stopped Grazax, a modest benefit appears to persist for a further season among patients who had taken the drug continuously for three years, it added, and there are still no published comparisons with established symptomatic treatments or with subcutaneous immunotherapy.
“For all these reasons, and because of the high cost of Grazax, we remain unconvinced that it offers worthwhile benefit for the vast majority of patients with hay fever, and cannot recommend its use,” the DTB said.
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Readers' comments (1)
john stacey | 22-Jun-2010 4:00 pm
as a hayfever suferer and currently using Grazax i would highly recomend this treatment, this is the first year i have enjoyed the summer hayfever free for 20 yrs, i have been taking Grazax since december 2009, i have tried dozens of other treatments and nothing comes close
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