Allergies may soon lose their status as a barrier to cat adoption for millions of people who suffer from sneezing, itching, and watery eyes whenever they get close to fur-covered felines.

Researchers testing the efficacy of a new cat allergy treatment called Cat-peptide antigen desensitization (Cad-PAD) recently released promising results, saying the treatment has provided long-lasting allergy relief for study participants, according to a McMaster University news release.

During the phase II clinical study, a total of 202 participants were either given a placebo or four injections of Cat-peptide antigen desensitization (Cat-PAD) over the course of 12 weeks.

According to researchers, participants who were given Cat-PAD often experienced “substantial” relief from their allergy symptoms that lasted throughout the entire two-year time period following the injections, the university reported.

"Sustaining such a substantial improvement in patients' allergy symptoms two years after the start of the study is remarkable," said Mark Larché, professor of medicine at the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine and Canada Research Chair in Allergy and Immune Tolerance. "Achieving this with a short course of just four doses is even more impressive.  These results suggest that the therapy has the potential to revolutionize treatment for cat allergy patients."

Larché said the treatment could hit the market in two years if the clinical trial, which is now in its third phase, concludes successfully.

Clinical development of the treatment was conducted by Adiga Life Sciences, a joint business venture between McMaster University and Circassia Ltd., a U.K.-based biotech company.