Skin Patch Helps Control Peanut Allergies in Year-Long Study

The National Institutes of Health is touting results of a study it sponsored investigating a skin patch designed to treat peanut allergy. The device, called Viaskin Peanut, was developed by DBV Technologies, a company based in the suburbs of Paris, France. It delivers a small amount of peanut protein through the skin, training the immune system to deal with the allergen so that it can handle accidental eating of peanut-based products in the future.

The results come from a year of following three groups of volunteers that are allergic to peanuts. One group received a placebo, while two other groups received 100 and 250 microgram daily doses via the patch. The “volunteers” were between the ages of four and 25 and their reactions to peanuts were gauged before the start of the trial. Following the trial, the researchers compared how well the participants tolerated peanut protein in quantities ten times what they were able to injest before. Almost fifty percent of the participants in the two groups that actually received peanut protein through the skin were able to tolerate the high amount of peanut protein, while only 12 percent in the placebo group were able to do the same.

The study still goes on and we expect further results to come out as time progresses. In the meantime, the initial results are very encouraging and give hope to kids allergic to peanuts and their parents that this malady may soon be treatable.

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