The clinical efficacy of a pollen allergen intended to build antibodies in ragweed-sensitive persons currently is being mulled by computers in Buffalo, Baltimore, Iowa City, and elsewhere.
Physicians' evaluations of 29 subjects treated with "antigen E" at Johns Hopkins Hospital "appear to show significantly less severe symptoms than a placebo group," according to Philip S. Norman, MD.
When participating investigators meet in New York next month, results of last summer's field trial with more than 100 persons will be compared. But even if clinical effects are not initially impressive, Hopkins investigators feel the major sensitizing constituent of ragweed pollen has been isolated.
"Antigen E was identified after intricate biochemical-clinical work at Hopkins and New York's Rockefeller Institute.
"It has been shown pretty nicely that pollen doesn't last as such when it lands on the mucous membrane of the nose," Dr. Norman told JAMAMedical News.
Coat Dissolved
"In a very