"Promising New Oral Treatment Gives Hope to Peanut Allergy Sufferers" - Dr. Max Gomez
There has been an important development in the quest to prevent potentially lethal peanut allergies. It’s an oral treatment that helps children with severe peanut allergies withstand exposure to peanuts. It’s called oral immunotherapy, basically an oral version of allergy shots that millions get for pollen and other allergies. The idea is to gradually build up a child’s tolerance to peanuts. While an important development, Scott Sicherer, MD, director of the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, cautions that this is not a cure. “This treatment gives kids a safety value. It’s not a cure. It means that if they’re accidentally exposed to peanuts, they’ll have mild symptoms as opposed to a very severe allergic reaction,” said Dr. Sicherer. Children using the treatment will have to take it religiously, every day like a medicine. If they stop taking it, the benefit will likely wear off.
— Scott Sicherer, MD, Professor, Pediatrics, Allergy and Immunology, Chief, Division of Allergy and Immunology in Department of Pediatrics, Director, Elliot and Roslyn Jaffe Food Allergy Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai