Australian researchers are recruiting children with peanut allergies to begin trials for an experimental peanut allergy vaccine. Researchers at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute have been developing the vaccing for years.
The researchers say that the treatment, if it is proven to work, could be on the market in Australia and other parts of the world within five years. The treatment first entered studies last year, where a trial involving 28 children with peanut allergies found that injections of probiotics and daily intake of peanut proteins over 18 months reduced their allergic reactions significantly.
Four weeks after treatment, the children still had resistance to peanut allergy manifestations.
the original study is now ready for a follow-on to further prove efficacy. A study looking at the longer-term effects of the original study is slated for publication soon. Meanwhile, the research team is preparing a new study involving the “vaccine” to include about 200 children, with 40 signed up so far, say reports.
The group is confident that their results will show tolerance, not just desensitization, is possible.