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Dr. Julien Cottet (allergist doctor)
Parents of allergic children or allergic people themselves know it: their disease can be a daily constraint. A phase 3 study on a patch capable of accustoming patients to peanuts has just been published. A promising track for all people allergic to peanuts.
When you suffer from a food allergy, eating out at a restaurant or with friends can become a real headache. “Food allergy can be restrictive for outings and social life” approves DrJulien Cottet, allergist doctor, vice president of the French Society of Allergology.
Reduce the risk of a serious reaction by increasing the tolerance threshold
To make life easier for patients, specialists therefore wish to be able to increase the tolerance of the allergen – here the peanut – to patients. “The objective is not to make an allergic person eat a kilo of peanuts” adds Julien Cottet, “but rather to increase the patient’s tolerance to the product. If he can ingest a gram of peanuts instead of 10 mg before having a reaction, it will make his life easier on a daily basis.”.
With this in mind, allergist doctors are already carrying out habituation protocols, which allow allergy sufferers to be exposed to small doses of allergens on a daily basis. “For people allergic to peanuts, it will make them eat a Curly every day, for example“explains the doctor again.”But it’s difficult to hold on the long term, especially for children, who quickly don’t want to eat it anymore.“. However, addiction to a substance does not require daily consumption for the patient, otherwise the process will be interrupted and he will have to start from scratch.
A patch to make life easier for young people with allergies
To standardize habituation practices and facilitate this process, the company DBV Technologies has been working for several years on the development of a patch which would make it possible, through immunotherapy, to desensitize children allergic to peanuts. A global phase 3, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial was carried out on children aged 1 to 3 years. The results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
“We were thrilled to contribute to this landmark study which is so promising for our young peanut allergic patients.” says the study’s lead researcher, Melanie Makhija, an associate professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
One to four peanuts consumed without problem
“Children who initially responded to a small fraction of peanut were able to tolerate the equivalent of one to four peanuts after completing treatment. This means that these children will be well protected against accidental peanut exposure. Importantly, we found the peanut patch to be safe, with very low risk of a serious allergic reaction. This is great news for families with children with peanut allergies.” says the specialist.
For Dr. Cottet, these results are promising and will allow doctors to apply for marketing authorization for this device, like any other drug. Remember that in France, peanut allergy affects about 1% of the population.