A new patch could potentially build tolerance in patients with peanut allergies, announced the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. Based on the principle of epicutaneous immunotherapy (EPIT), the patch, called Viaskin Peanut, delivers small doses of peanut proteins when placed on patients’ skin. A team of researchers has just completed a double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized Phase IIb trial in which 221 individuals with peanut allergies underwent the therapy for a year. “After one year of therapy, half of the patients treated with the 250 ug patch tolerated at least 1 gram of peanut protein — about four peanuts — which is 10 times the dose that they tolerated in their entry oral peanut challenge,” said Hugh A. Sampson, MD, FAAAAI, Director of the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute at the Kravis Children's Hospital at Mount Sinai and first author of the late-breaking abstract.
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