A patch might help relieve a peanut allergy in children. It is a form of immunotherapy, which over time exposes peanut-allergic children to tiny fragments of peanut protein, with the aim of ‘training’ the immune system to tolerate them better.
A study conducted by Matthew Greenhawt of Children’s Hospital Colorado, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that among children who wore the peanut patch every day for a year, two-thirds showed a significant reduction in their sensitivity to protein. of peanuts: they were able to eat the equivalent of one to four peanuts without suffering an allergic reaction.
The study involved 362 children, aged 1 to 3 years, who wore the peanut allergy prevention patch or a placebo (inactive) every day for a year. Overall, 67% of the children subjected to the real treatment achieved the final objective of the study: their immune tolerance was in fact developed to the point where they could ingest the equivalent of one (in case of severe allergy) or four peanuts (in case of a milder cheerfulness) without an allergic reaction. This compared with 33% of children in the placebo group.
Skin rash was the most common side effect with the peanut patch, while just under 2% of children developed systemic symptoms that were rated “mild to moderate.” The patch tested in the trial, called Viaskin, was developed by French biotech company DVB Technologies, which funded the research.
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