Plaut described the effectiveness of the patch as modest, but added that the effects may increase as the children and young adults keep using it.
Using it for a couple of years is “probably optimal,” he said. While the effectiveness of oral therapy is typically higher, he said, there is also a higher rate of adverse side effects.
The patch study will continue for 30 months. The children who started on the placebo patch will be switched over to the active patch for a year, Plaut said.
Dr. Vivian Hernandez-Trujillo, chief of the section of pediatric allergy and immunology at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami, said, “This is a promising and exciting study for those of us who are affected by peanut allergy.”
She was cautiously optimistic while awaiting the final results.
“It is important to remember that this is still being studied in research centers,” Hernandez-Trujillo said. “But I, as both an allergist and a mother of children with peanut allergy, would definitely consider it as an exciting treatment option.”
The study excluded those with a history of very severe peanut allergy reactions. So, future research is needed, she said, not only to see how the next year’s results bear out, but also to see if the approach will provide protection for those with severe allergies.