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Doctors: Skin patch may treat peanut allergies

Peanut allergy skin patch could help kids study says

Peanut allergies may be treated with a skin patch that delivers small amounts of peanut protein. Children between 4 and 11 years old saw the most improvement. Treatment effects were significantly diminished in participants aged 12 years and over. However, an ongoing study sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) may have an answer for those suffering from a peanut allergy: A patch called epicutaneous immunotherapy (EPIT), which delivers small amounts of peanut protein through the skin, slowly strengthening the immune system against accidental peanut exposure.

The treatment, called epicutaneous immunotherapy or EPIT, was safe and well-tolerated, and almost all participants used the skin patch daily as directed, according to the one-year results from an ongoing clinical trial conducted by Consortium of Food Allergy Research (CoFAR) in the US.

Before the researchers began the trial, they set a goal of a tenfold increase in participants' peanut threshold, meaning they could eat 10 times more peanuts at the end of the year, Jones said.

Biopharmaceutical company DBV Technologies developed and provided the "Viaskin" patches, which were provided to the participants each day, to be applied to their arm or between their shoulder blades. The low-dose and high-dose groups were found to have a 46 and 48 percent success rate, respectively, compared to 12 percent for the placebo group. The idea is to train the immune system to recognize peanut proteins as safe, so that it doesn't go into overdrive and cause anaphylaxis, which comes on suddenly and can kill unless patients get immediate medication such as epinephrine.

One year later, the researchers tested the volunteers to see if their peanut tolerance had changed - and if so, how much.

Other researchers have tested giving small oral doses of the peanut protein, but the NIH team of researchers noted that that regimen is hard for about 10 percent to 15 percent of people to tolerate.

Dr Marshall Plaut, added: "The high adherence to the daily peanut patch regimen suggests the patch is easy to use, convenient and safe".

"To avoid potentially life-threatening allergic reactions, people with peanut allergy must be vigilant about the foods they eat and the environments they enter, which can be very stressful", said Dr.

None of the volunteers reported any negative reactions to the treatment, apart from some skin irritation beneath the patch. Additional studies will be needed before the Viaskin patch can be made commercially available.

The patch study will continue for 30 months.

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Doctors: Skin patch may treat peanut allergies