People may experience allergic reactions to nearly any medication. However, drug desensitization therapy is not appropriate for most drug allergies, because there are many alternatives.

When necessary, allergies to the following medications have been successfully treated through desensitization therapy:

• Antibiotics. Antibiotics are the largest class of drugs that patients are commonly desensitized to. Penicillin allergy is the most common type of drug allergy, and these allergies can occur in many related antibiotics. For most people, a physician can prescribe other non-penicillin antibiotics. In some circumstances, however, penicillin is the best drug to prescribe, and only under these conditions would desensitization be recommended.
  
  
• Aspirin. A common pain reliever and anti-inflammatory drug that is widely used to prevent heart attacks and stroke in people with heart disease. For people with severe heart disease and an aspirin allergy, desensitization may be beneficial. However, not all people with heart disease and aspirin allergy are candidates for desensitization because success depends on the severity of the allergy. Patients who experience breathing problems with aspirin are better candidates for desensitization than patients who get hives.
  

  

• Insulin. A hormone necessary to treat diabetes, a disorder in which blood sugar (glucose) levels are high because the body does not release or use insulin adequately. Insulin medications are produced using porcine (pig), bovine (cow) or human DNA and the base source material can be an allergen. Some patients with allergic reactions to cow and pig insulin may benefit from desensitization therapy.
  
  Insulin desensitization is commonly performed using human DNA insulin with a rapid desensitization protocol (a decreased time frame in which desensitization is achieved in a matter of hours or days). Insulin allergy is uncommon today because allergies to synthetic human insulin are rare and this is the most common type of insulin used to treat diabetes.