Peanut patch shown to reduce allergic reactions in young children

Image credit: DBV Technologies

New trial results show a specially designed patch could help children with peanut allergy.  

Hundreds of young children with a peanut allergy took part at dozens of sites for the international clinical trial, including at University Hospital Southampton (UHS).

The VIASKIN® Peanut Patch is designed to help children with a peanut allergy build up a tolerance. The aim is to prevent severe reactions if they accidentally eat peanut.

Topline results, announced by DBV Technologies, show more children who wore the patch could tolerate eating  the equivalent of one peanut  without reacting after 12 months. This was compared to children who had a placebo.

Dr Mich Lajeunesse, Consultant in Paediatric Allergy and Immunology at Southampton Children's Hospital, led Southampton’s involvement in the trial. The research is part of the NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre’s respiratory and allergy theme.

Building tolerance

The standard treatment for children with peanut allergy is to avoid peanuts, but this can be difficult. Accidental exposure can result in severe, potentially life-threatening reactions.

The VIASKIN peanut patch works by non-invasive epicutaneous immunotherapy (EPIT). This

means small amounts of allergen are applied to the skin, to train the immune system to tolerate it.

The VITESSE trial is the largest immunotherapy clinical trial to date for children with peanut allergy. UHS was one of 86 sites across the UK, USA, Canada, Europe and Australia.

Overall, 654 children with peanut allergy took part in the trial, with four joining at UHS. They were randomly assigned to either have the treatment patch (438 children) or a placebo (216 children).

Looking for responders

The researchers looked for treatment ‘responders’. This was done by measuring the amount of peanut protein that, when eaten in a food challenge, triggered an allergic reaction.

Children were considered responders if they went from reacting to 30mg or less peanut protein at the start to tolerating up to 300mg after 12 months.

A typical shelled peanut weighs between 250mg and 600mg. This means that, by the end of the trial period, responders were able to tolerate the equivalent of one peanut.

If they could tolerate up to 100mg at the start, they needed to react to 600mg or more at the end of the trial period to be a responder.    

Promising results

The researchers found 46.6% of children who wore the patch were responders, compared to 14.8% of children who had the placebo.

There were no reports of serious treatment-related side effects. The main side effect was mild-to-moderate skin reactions where the patch was applied.

Few children left the study due to side effects (3.2% treatment group, 0.5% placebo group).

Two children had treatment-related anaphylaxis, but both decided to continue the treatment.

After the trial, all participants were offered the VIASKIN peanut patch for up to three years.

Dr Lajeunesse said: “I am really encouraged by these results. There will now be further research required before it will be available to patients. 

“I hope that, in due course, it will be an important treatment on the NHS for children with peanut allergy.”