Peanut allergy can be beaten with a treatment that slowly builds up tolerance, a large study shows.
A large study provides the strongest evidence that children and teenagers can be desensitised to peanut allergies through controlled, escalating exposure to a substance that could otherwise trigger a life-threatening reaction – an advance that specialists said was likely to herald the development of new food allergy drugs.
The goal of the treatment is not to cure the allergy or enable children to eat peanut butter sandwiches, but to reduce the risk that an accidental exposure to trace amounts will trigger a life-threatening reaction in someone with a severe allergy, and relieve the fear and anxiety that go along with severe peanut allergies.
After a year of treatment with an experimental drug made by Aimmune Therapeutics, 67 percent of children and teenagers with peanut allergies were able to safely ingest the equivalent of at least two peanuts, compared with 4 percent of those on placebo, according to the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The UK chief investigator, Prof George du Toit, says, “The results of this ground-breaking study are very promising and suggest that we will be able to protect children who are allergic to peanuts from having a severe reaction after accidental exposure.
“Peanut allergy is extremely difficult to manage for children and their families, as they have to follow a strict peanut-free diet.
“Families live in fear of accidental exposure as allergic reactions can be very severe and can even lead to death.”
Peanut allergy, a potentially life-threatening condition, has doubled over the last two decades and affects about 3 in every 100 children in Australia – it is also on the rise in New Zealand, according to Medsafe.
