Allergy biological products

Other prescription drugs commonly excluded from coverage include injectables administered by a clinician, anorexiants (appetite suppressants), smoking cessation products, fertility drugs, oral contraceptives, vitamins, prescriptions used for cosmetic purposes, allergy and biological sera, dental fluorides, and therapeutic or medical devices. 

The oligosaccharides prepared from alginate can exhibit a variety of biological activities, including anti-allergy properties, anti-hypertensive activity, an ability to enhance the growth of human endothelial cells and keratinocytes, and an ability to induce cytokine production [157]. 

These minor components of cocoa have become an intense focus of research interest because of their demonstrated beneficial effect on health. The interest has been recently reinforced by the scientific opinion on the substantiation of a health claim related to cocoa flavanols and the maintenance of normal endothelium-dependent vasodilation issued by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA) [3], In order to obtain the claimed effect, 200 mg of cocoa fiavanols should be consumed daily. This amount could be provided by 2.5 g of high-fiavanol cocoa powder or 10 g of high-flavanol dark chocolate. This reinforces the scientific interest in the development of sensitive and rapid analytical methods for determining these minor components in cocoa, cocoa products, and chocolate. Another important aspect is related to the development of analytical methodologies for sensitive and selective identification and quantification of the main metabolites of cocoa polyphenols in biological samples in order to understand their bioavailability and their contribution to health. 

Safety issues to be considered are the exact equivalence of the products (especially for biologicals this may pose a problem) and the risk of allergy or intolerance for a specific excipient (e.g. colouring agents). 

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