Information updates

Anapen^® 150, 300 and 500 adrenaline (epinephrine) autoinjectors are now available in Australia on the PBS as of 1st September 2021 in Australia. 

Anapen^® is being made available by Allergy Concepts, which has partnered with Arrotex to ensure widespread availability in pharmacies across Australia.  

Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to request further information and supply of an Anapen^® Trainer for demonstrating how to use the device. 

Allergy Concepts has aligned itself with several organisations to offer patient support services, which include:

• Free Anapen^® trainers available on demand from treating doctors.
• Anapen^® trainers available via Allergy Anaphylaxis Australia (A&AA) and local pharmacies.
• Free pharmacy support at participating pharmacies that can be located using https://anapen.pharmaprograms.com.au/locator/

The free pharmacy support includes:

• Device demonstration using an Anapen^® trainer
• Patient support pack including an Anapen^® patient information leaflet, ASCIA Action Plan for Anaphylaxis (Anapen^® version), ASCIA Travel Plan for Anaphylaxis, Anapen^® how to use card and access to an optional patient sms/email Anapen^® expiry reminder.

The Anapen® website  www.anapen.com.au includes links to how to use videos, education information, ASCIA and A&AA anaphylaxis resources.

Whilst the availability of another brand of adrenaline autoinjector in Australia should address any future product shortages, it is important that prescribers and their patients are familiar with both brands.

Anapen^® is available in three dose strengths:

• 150 microgram for young children (7.5 Kg to 20 Kg )
• 300 microgram for children (>20 Kg) and adults
• 500 microgram for anyone weighing more than 50 Kg. 

The range of strengths is included in the 2021 ASCIA Guidelines for Acute Management of Anaphylaxis www.allergy.org.au/hp/papers/acute-management-of-anaphylaxis-guidelines and other ASCIA anaphylaxis resources, such as the Anapen^® version of the ASCIA Action Plan for Anaphylaxis. To access these resources visit www.allergy.org.au/anaphylaxis   

ASCIA Anaphylaxis e-training courses for Schools, Children’s Education/Care (CEC) and  Community have being updated to include information about Anapen^® and are available at www.allergy.org.au/about-ascia/about-ascia-e-training

On Thursday 24 June 2021 representatives from the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA), the National Allergy Strategy (NAS), Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia (A&AA) and the Centre for Food & Allergy Research (CFAR) met with the Minister for Heath, Hon Greg Hunt MP, and other Australian Government representatives at Parliament House in Canberra.  At these meetings we discussed when the Government will respond to recommendations in the Report on the Parliamentary Inquiry into Allergies and Anaphylaxis ‘Walking the allergy tightrope - Addressing the rise of allergies and anaphylaxis in Australia’.

Whilst we understand that the COVID-19 pandemic has delayed a government response to this Report, the recommendations are becoming increasingly important and more urgent to address. Many of the issues have become worse due to the pandemic, including access to care, education and training. Addressing concerns relating to COVID-19 vaccines, allergies and anaphylaxis in are also important and ongoing issues for ASCIA and other stakeholders to address.

ASCIA welcomed the recommendations in the Report and the recognition of ASCIA’s pivotal and leading role in improving the care of Australians with allergic disease. ASCIA has thanked the Minister for Health, Hon Greg Hunt MP, the Committee Chair, Trent Zimmerman MP, Deputy Chair, Dr Mike Freelander MP, panel members including Dr Katie Allen MP, and the committee Secretariat for their excellent work in initiating and conducting the Parliamentary Inquiry.  

The Parliamentary Inquiry Report was tabled on Monday 15 June 2020 in the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia and is available here.

Allergies and Anaphylaxis affect more than 5 million Australians, their families and the community, and are recognised as bipartisan issues. For example, the Shadow Assistant Minister for Health, Ged Kearney MP made a speech about Allergy and Anaphylaxis in Parliament on 3 August 2021. The speech is available here. 

This pictorial version of the ASCIA First Aid Plan for Anaphylaxis, has been developed in response to requests for a more visual plan which can be used as a poster and  assist people with limited reading ability. 

This plan includes infographics showing the:

• Signs of mild, moderate and severe allergic reactions (anaphylaxis); and
• Actions for anaphylaxis.

The plan is best viewed when printed as an A3 poster which can be displayed in schools, children’s education/care (CEC) services and other community settings.

It is now available on the ASCIA website www.allergy.org.au/hp/anaphylaxis/first-aid-for-anaphylaxis-pictorial

An audio version of the ASCIA First Aid Plan for Anaphylaxis (using ReadSpeaker*) is available at www.allergy.org.au/hp/anaphylaxis/first-aid-for-anaphylaxis

4 August 2021: 

The new ASCIA Anaphylaxis refresher e-training course is now available.

This short course takes less than 20 minutes to complete and includes:

• Updated and new ASCIA Action and First Aid Plans.
• New infographics and animations to make the training more visual and interactive.
• Instructions for two brands of adrenaline (epinephrine) injectors, EpiPen^® and Anapen^® (available on the PBS September 2021).
• A certificate that confirms successful course completion, which requires participants to obtain 100% for the Quiz.

This course is avaiable at https://etraining.allergy.org.au/course/index.php?categoryid=3.

It should only be used for interim refresher training and does not replace the comprehensive ASCIA anaphylaxis e-training courses for schools, children's education/care, community and health professsionals, which take around one hour to complete. All of these courses are currently being updated and will be available by September 2021.

Other ASCIA anaphylaxis resources that have recently been developed or updated include:

The following new and updated resources will be available in the 2^nd half of 2021: 

The new ASCIA Anaphylaxis refresher e-training course has been developed by ASCIA, and supported by ASCIA and the National Allergy Strategy, a partnership between ASCIA and Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia (A&AA).

29 July 2021: 

Updated ASCIA Sulfite Sensitivity Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) information for patients, consumers and carers is now available on the ASCIA website www.allergy.org.au/patients/other-allergy/sulfite-sensitivity-faq

This document has been reformatted into a reader friendly FAQ format and includes the following new statements:

• Some oral medications contain gelatin, and trace sulfite residues from gelatin in medications may cause adverse reactions.
• Allergic reactions to gelatin can also occur in people with mammalian meat allergy (MMA). 
• Allergic reactions to sulfonamide antibiotics are very different to sulfite sensitivity. To read more go to www.allergy.org.au/patients/drug-allergy/sulfonamide-antibiotic-allergy

It is important that this document is updated when new information becomes available, as it is one of the most accessed articles (around 5,000 times per month) on the ASCIA website.

29 July 2021: 

The following new ASCIA COVID-19 resource has been developed as a guide for when COVID-19 vaccination should proceed with precautions, or when COVID-19 vaccination is contraindicated, and includes COVID-19 vaccine skin testing and challenge protocols:

• New ASCIA COVID-19 Vaccination Guide for Clinical Immunology/Allergy Specialists www.allergy.org.au/hp/papers/guide-covid-19-vaccination

The following ASCIA COVID-19 resources have been updated, to be consistent with the new ASCIA COVID-19 Vaccination Guide, the latest updates from the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) regarding approval of the Pfizer vaccine for 12-15 year olds and recommendations for patients with immunosuppression (see text below in itallics):

• Updated ASCIA Allergy, Immunodeficiency, Autoimmunity and COVID-19 Vaccination Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) allergy.org.au/patients/ascia-covid-19-vaccination-faq
• Updated ASCIA Guide: Allergy and COVID-19 Vaccination allergy.org.au/hp/papers/guide-allergy-and-covid-19-vaccination
• Updated ASCIA Guide: Immunodeficiency, Autoimmunity and COVID-19 Vaccination allergy.org.au/hp/papers/guide-immunodeficiency-autoimmunity-and-covid-19-vaccination
• Updated ASCIA Allergy, Immunodeficiency, Autoimmunity and COVID-19 Vaccination Position Statement allergy.org.au/hp/papers/ascia-hp-position-statement-covid-19-vaccination

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has provisionally approved the use of the Pfizer BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccine (COMIRNATY) in individuals 12 years and older. Previously, the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine was provisionally approved for use in individuals 16 years or older.

Provisional approval for use in the 12-15 years age group has been made following careful evaluation of the available data supporting safety and efficacy, including clinical studies with adolescents 12 to 15 years of age. Use in this age group was supported by the independent expert Advisory Committee on Vaccines.

Further details of the data supporting this approval and TGA's evaluation are included in the Product Information (PI)) and the Australian Public Assessment Report (AusPAR). https://www.tga.gov.au/tga-provisional-approval-pfizer-biontech-covid-19-vaccine-include-12-15-years-age-group

Current recommendations for patients with immunosuppression from the Australian Rheumatology Association (ARA) https://rheumatology.org.au/ or the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) www.rheumatology.org/ may be used by clinical immunology/allergy specialists and rheumatologists to guide decisions regarding COVID-19 vaccination.

Each patient with immunosuppression requires shared decision making between patient and prescriber that is based on these recommendations and specific clinical circumstances, including disease activity, co-morbidities and risk of COVID-19 infection.

All of these resources are based on the current information regarding COVID-19 vaccines available in Australia and New Zealand, and will be updated when new information is available.

It is a pleasure to announce that the following five new ASCIA eosinophilic oesophagitis (EoE) resources are now available on the ASCIA website www.allergy.org.au/patients/food-other-adverse-reactions

• ASCIA Action Plan* for EoE - for emergency treatment of food impaction/food bolus obstruction (FBO) due to EoE
• ASCIA Management Plan* for EoE - to guide ongoing treatment and management of EoE
• ASCIA EoE Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) - this replaces the previous ASCIA EoE information for patients, consumers and carers
• ASCIA Two Food Elimination Diet (2FED) Dietary Guide - to guide dietary modification for EoE
• ASCIA Four Food Elimination Diet (4FED) Dietary Guide - to guide dietary modification for EoE

*ASCIA Action and Management Plans for EoE are medical documents that can only be completed and signed by the patient's clinical immunology/allergy specialist or gastroenterologist and cannot be altered without their permission.

These resources have been developed by ASCIA in response to many requests over several years from ASCIA members, patients and the patient support organisation AusEE.

The development and review process has been extensive, with the ASCIA team working over several months with ASCIA EoE Working Party, ASCIA Paediatric committee and ASCIA Dietitian committee members.

It is a pleasure to announce that the ASCIA 2021 Virtual Conference Program Book has been updated on https://ascia2021.com/program.php to include:

• 73 Poster presentations - pages 13-19
• 20 Clinical Grand Rounds (CGR) presentations - pages 11-12
• 18 Sponsored sessions - page 10
• 11 AIFA research presentations - page 9
• 27 Sponsors and exhibitors - page 2
• 9 CFAR Hot publications - Food allergy research - pages 20-21

If you have not yet registered, it is not too late! https://ascia2021.com/registration.php 

Why Register?

The ASCIA 2021 Virtual Conference will provide delegates with:

• An international standard of CPD/CME with more than 60 speakers, including 12 international experts.
• Live online participation in Q&A, live chat and networking forums.
• Flexible viewing options with recordings available on the conference platform using the latest technology.
• Complimentary dinner meetings featuring Dr Norman Swan presenting on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Registration provides exceptional value, with accessible fees due to support from sponsors and exhibitors.

We look forward to your participation in the ASCIA 2021 Virtual Conference.