Peanut allergy is one of the most common and dangerous food allergies. New study gives hope to worried parents.
One skin sticker experimental has shown promise for treating babies who are highly allergic to peanutstraining their bodies to deal with accidental consumption, according to a study carried out in the United States.
Peanut allergy is one of the most common food allergies. common It is dangerousand parents of allergic children are constantly on guard against exposures that could turn birthday parties or games into emergency room visits, reported the Associated Press (AP) agency.
No cureO only treatment is for children aged 4 years or more, who can consume a special peanut powder to protect against a severe reaction.
The patch under study, called Viaskin, aims to deliver this type of treatment through the skin to children under four.
A large trial of 1- to 3-year-olds helped those who couldn’t tolerate even a tiny fraction of peanuts safely eat a few pieces, researchers reported Wednesday.
If additional tests were performed, these adhesives may “fill a huge unmet need,” said Matthew Greenhawt, an allergy physician at Children’s Hospital Colorado, who helped lead the study.
About 2% of US children are allergic to peanuts, some so severely that even a small amount can cause a life-threatening reaction.
Your immune system overreacts to foods that contain peanuts, triggering an inflammatory cascade that causes hives, wheezing or worse.
Some young people outgrow the allergy, but Most should avoid peanuts for life and carry SOS medication to avoid a severe reaction if they accidentally eat the food.
In 2020, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first treatment to induce tolerance to peanuts — a “oral immunotherapy” called Palforzia that children from 4 to 17 years old consume daily to maintain protection.
Aimmune Therapeutics’ Palforzia is also being tested in children between 1 and 2 years old.
France’s DBV Technologies, meanwhile, is looking at skin-based immunotherapy as an alternative way to desensitize the body to allergens.
Viaskin adhesive is coated with a small amount of peanut protein that is absorbed through the skin.
a sticker daily is used between shoulder bladeswhere babies cannot remove it.
In the new study, 362 children with peanut allergies were first tested to see how high a dose of peanut protein they could tolerate. They were then randomly assigned to wear either the Viaskin patch or a dummy patch every day.
After a year of treatment, the children were tested again and about two thirds who used the real sticker got safely eat more peanutsthe equivalent of three to four, compared to a third compared to those who received fake patches, the researchers concluded.
As for safety, four Viaskin recipients experienced an allergic reaction called anaphylaxis which was considered to be related to the adhesive. Three were treated with epinephrine to quell the reaction and one withdrew from the study.
Some young people also accidentally ate foods containing peanuts during the study, and the researchers noted that allergic reactions were less common among Viaskin users than among those using the fake patches. The most common side effect was skin irritation at the location of the sticker.
These results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The conclusions “are very good news for young children and their families as the next step toward a future with more treatments for food allergies,” said Alkis Togias of the National Institutes of Health, who was not involved in the study.
DBV Technologies struggled for several years to bring the adhesive to market. Last month, the company announced that the FDA wants some additional safety data for babies, and a separate study is already tracking longer treatments.
A study for children between the ages of 4 and 7 is also underway.
