Children's Hospital Los Angeles

The nation's largest network of food allergy clinics will open four Southern California clinics and fill a void for local comprehensive food allergy care LOS ANGELES, Aug. 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Latitude Food Allergy Care, the leading network of food allergy clinics in the United States, today announced an affiliation with Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) to bring specialized food allergy treatment to Southern California families. As part of this affiliation, Latitude has just opened its first Los Angeles clinic in Westwood, which is now open to patients of all ages. Three additional locations are planned across Southern California over the next year. This affiliation also gives children and young adults, access to the multidisciplinary team of specialists at the Gore Family Allergy Center at CHLA. Food allergies continue to surge across the United States, with approximately 32 million Americans living with food allergies, including 5.6 million children. In the Los Angeles metropolitan area alone, thousands of people are navigating food allergies, yet access to treatment remains severely limited. This affiliation addresses the urgent need for pediatric food allergy care in Los Angeles, where high demand, waiting lists, and limited specialized treatment options like oral immunotherapy (OIT) and Xolair have restricted access for many families. "Children's Hospital Los Angeles is home to the Gores Family Allergy Center and provides comprehensive care for children with food allergies, asthma, and other allergic and immunologic conditions throughout Southern California," said Matthew Keefer, M.D., CEO of the Children's Hospital Los Angeles Medical Group. "This affiliation enables Children's Hospital Los Angeles to expand its footprint in food allergy care and extend services to more patients across the region." The affiliation between Latitude and CHLA includes: Immediate Patient Access: CHLA can now refer patients to Latitude for specialized food allergy treatments, reducing wait times for families seeking comprehensive care. Enhanced Treatment Options: Access to OIT and Xolair treatments provided in-clinic. Potential Research Collaboration: Similar to Latitude's successful research partnership with Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, the CHLA affiliation may expand to include joint research initiatives to advance food allergy treatment and outcomes. Training and Education: The affiliation enables both organizations to share expertise and advance the standard of care for food allergy treatment in Southern California and beyond. Collaborative Medical Care: Latitude allergists and CHLA pediatricians will work together as a unified care team for each patient. With an expanding network of clinics from San Francisco to New York, Latitude has treated thousands of patients, many of whom are now able to safely eat foods they previously avoided entirely. The company's evidence-based approach and board-certified allergist-led care model has established it as the premier destination for food allergy treatment on both coasts. "Bringing Latitude Food Allergy Care to Southern California enables us to bring treatment to a significantly underserved market, ensuring families receive timely, comprehensive food allergy care," said Kimberley Yates, co-founder and CEO of Latitude Food Allergy Care. "At Latitude, our patients can access testing for all foods and then be treated simultaneously for multiple food allergies." With the upcoming back-to-school season, the opening of Latitude's first West Los Angeles clinic is especially timely. Food allergies pose a major concern in new school settings and extracurricular activities, heightened by increased peer interactions. The new referral pipeline allows CHLA allergists, LA-area allergists, and pediatricians to refer patients directly to Latitude for specialized treatments not widely available in the region. This ensures children with food allergies can have the support they need as they return to school and navigate shared spaces and cafeterias. Ninety-two percent of Latitude patients of any age who undergo OIT at Latitude successfully reach maintenance, meaning they are desensitized to their allergens. That number is even higher for patients under four (clinics can even treat babies) — Latitude's success rate is 97 percent for its youngest patients. Dr. Akansha Ganju, a board-certified allergist and immunologist, will lead Latitude's new Westwood clinic. Dr. Ganju returns to Los Angeles after completing her fellowship at UCLA and brings extensive experience in food allergy treatment and oral immunotherapy. Her appointment represents a homecoming to the city where she trained and developed her expertise in food allergy care. Latitude accepts most PPO insurance plans. To book an appointment, email [email protected] or call (888) 528-1592. For more information about Latitude Food Allergy Care, visit latitudefoodallergycare.com. About Latitude Food Allergy Care Latitude Food Allergy Care is the leading network of clinics dedicated to treating food allergies. Led by board-certified allergists, Latitude redefines care through advanced diagnostics, evidence-based approaches such as OIT, and personalized treatment plans. Learn more at latitudefoodallergycare.com and follow Latitude on Instagram, Facebook, and Linkedin. 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Sarepta Therapeutics said the pause will allow the company “the necessary time to respond to any requests for information” and to complete updating Elevidys’ safety labeling per an agreement with the FDA. A brief skirmish between Sarepta Therapeutics and the FDA has ended before escalating into a full-on regulatory clash, as the company has bowed to the agency’s demand.In a surprising reversal, Sarepta on Monday said it will pause all shipments of its Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene therapy Elevidys in the U.S., effective at the end of business on July 22.The FDA made the distribution suspension request Friday after multiple patient deaths, including two following treatment with Elevidys. More recently, Sarepta disclosed the death of a third patient who was given one of its gene therapies. That patient had received an investigational therapy for a different disease—limb-girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD)—in a clinical trial.Sarepta initially refused to play ball with the FDA's request, citing its own “comprehensive scientific interpretation of the data,” but it's now changing course.In its Monday release, Sarepta said the pause will allow the company “the necessary time to respond to any requests for information” and to complete updating Elevidys’ safety labeling per an agreement with the FDA. The company is working with the FDA to include a black box warning for acute liver injury and an updated risk management scheme in the drug’s label.The Massachusetts biotech “looks forward to a collaborative, science-driven review process and dialogue with the FDA,” Sarepta said in its release.Going against the FDA may have been a fight Sarepta was destined to lose.“It is important for the patients we serve that Sarepta maintains a productive and positive working relationship with FDA, and it became obvious that maintaining that productive working relationship required this temporary suspension while we address any questions that FDA may have and complete the Elevidys label supplement process,” Sarepta CEO Doug Ingram said in a statement.Further, the pressure might not have come from the FDA alone, even though Sarepta said the move was “voluntary” and “proactive.”Children’s Hospital Los Angeles had paused infusion of Elevidys on Friday, citing patient safety, Bloomberg reports. An article in November noted that the hospital had treated 10 boys with Elevidys at the time, making it one of the largest Elevidys treatment facilities by patient numbers, Leerink Partners analysts pointed out in a Monday note. The marketing suspension means Duchenne patients won’t be able to get Elevidys for an indefinite period. Sarepta had argued that because Duchenne is an irreversible progressive disease, patients need timely treatment.“While this pause will be a disappointment for the many families of boys with DMD in need of treatment options, we believe it is the right move and may help [Sarepta] rebuild goodwill with the FDA, which has likely eroded following recent events,” Leerink’s analysts said.Sarepta reported the two Elevidys patient deaths in March and June. In both cases, the teenage boys were no longer able to walk independently because of the progression of their disease. Both passed away after developing acute liver failure. Following the second death, Sarepta voluntarily paused shipments for non-ambulatory patients but insisted that Elevidys remain available for ambulatory patients, who are typically younger.The FDA’s demand followed a third death from a Sarepta product. A 51-year-old non-ambulant LGMD patient died after receiving Sarepta’s experimental SRP-9004 in a phase 1 clinical trial. Elevidys and SRP-9004 use the same adeno-associated virus vector, which is known to carry liver toxicity risks.Alongside the request for pausing Elevidys' distribution, the FDA also put Sarepta’s LGMD trials on clinical holds and revoked Sarepta’s platform technology designation, which is meant to support the development of novel therapies based on the same tech platforms.

Sarepta Therapeutics said Monday evening it will temporarily pause all shipments of its Elevidys gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy so it can address questions from the Food and Drug Administration, which three days ago asked the company to halt sales.Doug Ingram, Sareptas CEO, said in a statement that the decision was painful, but necessary for the company to continue a productive and positive working relationship with the regulator.The company said it would provide timely updates to the Duchenne community moving forward. Shipments of the treatment will be suspended effective close of business Tuesday.The decision de-escalates a highly unusual standoff between Sarepta and the FDA over the safety of Elevidys.Earlier this year, two Duchenne patients treated with it died from acute liver failure, a risk associated with treatments that, like Elevidys, use large amounts of engineered viruses to deliver functional genes into the body.Sarepta paused shipments to some older patients following the second death in June and had recently agreed with the FDA on a new warning label. The company claimed that this new labeling would resolve any FDA concerns with continued use of Elevidys in younger individuals whose disease had not progressed as much and could still walk.But the death of a third patient, in a Sarepta trial of a different gene therapy for another kind of muscular dystrophy, precipitated a crisis in communication that had the company and regulator at odds. While Sarepta reported this death to the FDA on July 3, it did not disclose the case to the broader public, only confirming it in haste on Friday. The lack of transparency angered analysts, who questioned why the company hadnt disclosed it on a conference call it held last Wednesday.Amid the back-and-forth on Wall Street, the FDA on Friday afternoon requested Sarepta stop shipping Elevidys entirely, which Sarepta refused to do.While the FDA has mechanisms to eventually force withdrawal of a drug from market, they are lengthy and involved. Typically, the agency relies on companies voluntarily agreeing to work with it.Sarepta had maintained that no new safety information on Elevidys use in younger patients required a stoppage, and argued the death of the third patient, while tragic, was unrelated to questions of Elevidys safety. (They are produced via different processes and given at different doses, but do rely on the same engineered virus for delivery.)The companys calculus appears to have shifted, however. On Monday, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles told Bloomberg that it had halted use of Elevidys.In its statement Monday evening, Sarepta said pausing shipments would give it time to respond to any requests for informationand allow the company and the FDA to complete discussions regarding Elevidys labeling. '