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Health:a patch to fight peanut allergies

Pollens, mites, animal hair… Allergies, often minimized, nevertheless make life difficult for those affected. Those affected by peanut allergies (the name of the plant whose seed is the peanut) could soon benefit from a new remedy. Indeed, DBV Technologies, a French biotechnology company, presented the results of a study conducted by a team of researchers. These show that the patch called Viaskin Peanut would be effective against peanut allergies, which are among the most common in children over the age of three. Here's a good alternative!

An innovative process

Viaskin Peanut acts according to a particular mode of diffusion. The idea is to introduce the patch into the body by putting it in contact with the allergen in order to get it used to it:in other words, peanut proteins are transmitted through the epidermis. A rather surprising technique therefore, yet Dr. Benhamou, CEO of DBV Technologies, affirms that this treatment makes it possible to "re-educate the immune system" while preventing peanuts from passing in too large quantities into the blood.

Encouraging results

French scientists claim that the patch they developed worked for 83.3% of children after just three years of treatment. All without any side effects being observed. Obviously, the young patients subjected to the tests were not able to consume peanuts normally, but the patch still made it possible to raise their threshold of tolerance. Finally, an essential point:thanks to Viaskin Peanut, the risk of not developing serious (even fatal) allergic reactions in children aged 4 to 11 years would be reduced by 98%.

If the researchers are confident, we are waiting for 2018, the potential date of the marketing of the patch, to be able to decide!