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In addition, the first line treatment (AH and INCS) is simply masking symptoms. Disease modifying alternatives are available but awareness of the simplicity and options are low.

The biggest impact felt by patients suffering from uncontrolled AR is on quality of life (loss of sleep, productivity, feeling lousy etc).

Allergy Immunotherapy Allergy Immunotherapy (AIT) can be an effective treatment for patients whose allergies remain uncontrolled despite avoidance techniques and traditional pharmacotherapy. AIT treats the underlying cause of allergy and gives long-lasting improvement by reprogramming the immune system to better tolerate specific allergens (the cause of a person’s allergies) Patient awareness of AIT is low and many patients tend to think of AIT as allergy “shots” that are primarily used to treat severe allergies to insect stings. Added to the lack of awareness, access to Allergy Immunotherapy is limited. Most AIT is provided as a subcutaneous injection (SCIT, or allergy shots administered with a needle), the majority of which is provided by an Allergist, however some general or family practice physicians also offer allergy shots. SCIT has historically been a ‘last-resort’ therapy because of the inconvenience, the pain, the slow-build up to a treatment effect and the risk of systemic reaction. SCIT also lacks standardized dosing as the dosage and shot schedule differed from allergist to allergist. SCIT allows a patient to be desensitized to multiple allergies in one shot. Sublingual Immunotherapy (SLIT) is a form of AIT administered orally in the form of a tablet and used to treat allergies for Grass, Ragweed, House Dust Mite and Trees. Currently, patients who are candidates for SLIT tablets must be referred to an Allergist to determine if they are a candidate for SLIT. SLIT offers advantages over SCIT in terms of better convenience, no pain, faster time-to-treatment effect, and lower risk of systemic reaction. The evidence backing SLIT is also much stronger given that there is a standardized dose with clinically and statistically significant efficacy based on RDBPC clinical studies. Focus on the Patient (Allergy Silent Sufferer) To address the issue of awareness among patients suffering from AR and to help mobilize these patients to seek out AIT, and more specifically treatment with SLIT-Tablets, ALK is investing in the development of a digital strategy devoted to education and awareness of AIT in Canada. The main component of this strategy is a website. This website is to be unbranded (as per Canadian regulations on direct to consumer advertising) and published under the url allergy.ca Along with the website, ALK will use social media channels to increase the reach of their digital efforts using Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.