United Allergy Services’ General Counsel and Vice President, Hugh Spires, recently spoke with Vanguard Law Magazine about the work we and the providers we work with are doing to improve lives, as well as the role he’s played in helping UAS push new boundaries in allergy care. You can currently read the article by clicking here.
The article begins by noting our model, which looks to help primary care providers address the gap in allergy care around the United States:
“As Spires notes, more than 60 million Americans suffer from allergies—be they the result of food, animals, drugs, the environment or numerous other factors—and allowing people to receive treatment through their family doctor is more convenient and less costly. The company’s protocol is also safe enough to be administered at home, so patients don’t have to go to an allergist’s office every week. Because of this convenience, Spires notes, UAS patients complete treatment at a significantly higher rate than the national average, and they also have a significantly lower risk of an adverse reaction than if they received treatment from an allergist.”
One area of growth that Spires and the article reference is a point of great excitement at UAS: Allergy Allay Drops®, our company’s imminent foray into providing sublingual immunotherapy drops. These orally administered drops, still in the pilot test phase as of mid-November, will offer a needle-free alternative to our core service line of subcutaneous immunotherapy (allergy shots), allowing UAS and our providers to impact the lives of more allergy sufferers than ever. Of course, launching a new product line in the healthcare space requires a variety of considerations, including legal ones.
“To ease fears around needles—and to accommodate patients with hectic schedules—the company has developed a proprietary formula for sub-lingual immunotherapy, or SLIT, in which drops are placed under a patient’s tongue. Because these would be among the first branded allergy therapy drops for humans, Spires is immersed in branding and copyright law, while establishing relationships with pilot clinics and working to trademark the name Allergy Allay Drops®.”
As a member of our leadership team since 2016, Spires has been pivotal in providing legal direction while providing his daily guidance in all other matters to affect our company. We are proud of the work he does as our General Counsel and happy to see that effort highlighted by Vanguard.
