Daily tablet could prevent hay fever and thunderstorm asthma, study shows

Melbourne researchers believe they have found a pill which could protect people against hay fever and thunderstorm asthma by changing their immune memory cells.

It's hoped the pills could become be a gamechanger for many people, with up to 30 per cent of the world's population allergic to grass pollen allergens.

A study done at Melbourne's Monash University has shown pills containing tiny doses of grass pollens have provided long-term protection against allergic reactions such as hay fever and thunderstorm asthma.

READ MORE: Alleged drink driver on buck's weekend rescued from car crash

The study, published in the journal Allergy, involved 13 people who were allergic to ryegrass pollen and seasonal rhinoconjunctivitis putting the tablet under their tongue once a day for four months before allergy season.

Twelve out of those 13 people then reported clinical benefits of the pill for up two years after taking it.

Through blood samples, researchers were able to identify the memory B cells in those 12 people had been reprogrammed and expressed new markers after the four months of treatment.

Head of the Allergy and Clinical Immunology Laboratory at Monash University, Professor Menno van Zelm, explained on 3AW that the tablets served "to retrain the immune system".

But he warned that the tablet "works in many people, but not in everyone".

The professor said the tablet would be a prescription medication.