The Food and Drug Administration recently approved the expanded use of a drug that could revolutionize life for people with complex food allergies, after trials from doctors based in Maryland.

Xolair, an injectable drug used to treat asthma, is now approved for people as young as one year old to help reduce dangerous food allergy symptoms like anaphylaxis.

“For those families whose life is completely restricted by the food allergy, meaning that they never would travel on vacation without a kitchenette, because they can't eat out at restaurants, for those families, this is going to be life changing,” said Dr. Robert Wood, the director of pediatric allergy immunology and rheumatology at Johns Hopkins Children's Center.

The drug is a monoclonal antibody, which blocks the body’s natural response to allergens. The drug was first approved in 2003 to treat asthma, hives and nasal polyps.

“There's a lot of experience with a drug and that actually made the process moving through the FDA quite a lot easier, because there's literally 20 years of safety information out there,” Wood said. “Compared to what is available to our patients right now, this is an enormous change.”

About 17 million Americans suffer from food allergies with severe reactions that the drug treats. Those who opt to take the medication will inject it every two or four weeks depending on their weight and response to the allergen. The drug does not cure allergies, but only dampens the dangerous effects. People with food allergies must still continue to avoid the foods that cause reactions like milk, nuts and eggs.

In trials the drug showed 68% of people allergic to nuts were able to tolerate about a half a teaspoon of peanut protein injection, compared to 6% of people who did not take the drug.