New NICE Guideline Places Child and Young Person Food Allergy Management in the Hands of GP's and Other Healthcare Professionals in Primary Care and the Community

LONDON, February 23, 2011 - The first guideline for food allergy in children and young people issued
by the National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)
recommends the routine use of allergy testing by Specific IgE blood tests or,
if the facilities exist, skin prick testing in NHS primary care and community
settings to confirm suspected food allergy.

This new evidence-based guideline supports earlier diagnosis and
assessment of food allergy and states that testing is cost effective compared
to not testing.

NICE recommends that all patients with suspected IgE-mediated allergy
should be offered, in conjunction with a medical history, an allergy-test
such as the Specific IgE blood test, ImmunoCAP, from Phadia.

A medical history alone is not sufficient to make a diagnosis of food
allergy. A blood test can help define the underlying cause of an allergic
reaction and help prevent unnecessary food avoidance which affects quality of
life and can place children at significant risk for nutritional deficiencies
and growth deficit.

Mandy East from the National Allergy Strategy Group said, "We welcome
this clear guideline on diagnosing food allergy in primary care.

"Children and young people with suspected food allergy will get an
accurate and timely diagnosis using the correct test for their condition.
This is very important since food allergy is a serious condition which can
cause significant anxiety in families, but which is manageable with the right
diagnosis."

Food allergies are amongst the most common allergic disorders and are
recognised as a major paediatric health problem in western countries.

Reactions can be extremely severe; hospital admissions in the UK for food
allergies have increased by 500% since 1990.

Phadia, a company long associated with allergy diagnosis, is supporting
the NICE guideline by piloting a programme to reach over 60% of GPs with
information on ways to identify and diagnose food allergies through an
innovative e-learning and web resource, together with UK-wide practical
allergy workshops for primary care practitioners.

Ken Maclachlan, Country Manager, Phadia UK and Ireland explains, "Phadia
aims to improve the uptake of the new guideline in Primary Care by increasing
the levels of awareness amongst GPs on how simple Specific IgE tests are to
use and interpret.

"Through diagnosing children with IgE mediated allergy, treatment and
referral pathways will be optimised and the quality of life improved for many
children with food allergies."

Phadia AB develops, manufactures and markets complete blood test systems
to support the clinical diagnosis and monitoring of allergy and autoimmune
diseases.

We supply more than 7 out of 10 allergy laboratory tests worldwide and 4
out of 10 autoimmunity tests to laboratories throughout Europe.

For more information on the new NICE guidelines,

www.nice.org.uk

For more information on Phadia www.phadia.co.uk

    Media Contacts:
    Pauline Kent or Joanna Gilham
    WoolleyPau PR
    +44(0)207-845-5183 or +44(0)207-845-5188
    pauline@woolleypau.co.uk

Media Contacts: Pauline Kent or Joanna Gilham, WoolleyPau PR, +44(0)207-845-5183 or +44(0)207-845-5188, pauline at woolleypau.co.uk