ATLANTA — A major medical breakthrough is giving people with peanut allergies new hope.
In a nearly 2 1/2-year study at 66 sites in 10 countries around the world, oral immunotherapy was shown to desensitize people to peanuts.
At the start of the study, patients showed a reaction when ingesting about one-third of a peanut.
After one year of the oral immunotherapy, doctors said, patients could eat at least two peanuts before having any kind of reaction.
The therapy helped the body build an increased tolerance to the one thing that would give patients a violent reaction.
“This shows that it would require a lot more exposure to cause symptoms if this were to happen while on treatment compared to not being treated,” said Dr. Brian Vickery, director of the food allergy center at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.
Vickery led the clinical trial of the oral therapy known as "ar101."
A total of 554 people around the world took part in trial, including some from research department of Atlanta Allergy and Asthma.
“Most of the patients seem to get a very good result and are able to eat at least some amount of peanut protein without having that life-threatening reaction,” Dr. Stanley Fineman, with Atlanta Allergy and Asthma, said.
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There’s never been a study of this size done and it certainly holds hope for peanut allergy patients.
Alieyh Cotton told Channel 2's Wendy Corona that her 11-year-old son, Caiden, is severely allergic to peanuts.
“Epipen is very common in our household,” Cotton said. “I’m glad we’re here on the cutting edge of it so that’s exciting.”
Cotton said she would love nothing more than for her son to not have to worry about reading labels someday.
“Just be able to let him relax a little bit, be a kid and not have to worry so much about items on packages,” Cotton said.
“This could be the first, or one of the first FDA-approved treatments ever for food allergy and that is effectively transformative,” Vickery said.
The doctors stressed the therapy is not a cure.
The company behind the study will present its findings to the Food and Drug Administration by year's end.
The FDA has promised to fast-track the immunotherapy, giving it priority breakthrough designation, which could get the therapy option to market sooner.
Cox Media Group
