Study Design of Immunotherapy of Ragweed Allergy

To the Editor: The fine study of ragweed-allergy immunotherapy recently reported in the Journal¹ is of great interest to those who treat allergic patients. Although polymerized antigens may ultimately prove of great value in atopic disorders, the conclusion that “polymerized antigen represents an improved form of immunotherapy that is as effective as standard immunotherapy” is not supported by the data available. Polymerized antigen E was compared with monomer antigen E and not with crude ragweed extract. The authors assumed that antigen E had been shown to be safer than crude ragweed antigen and to possess equal clinical efficacy. This.