NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Peanuts are something that are all around us from sporting events to inside the grocery store. It makes things a bit complicated if you have a peanut allergy.
"Even though people are more aware of it than they used to be, it still causes significant burden on families everyday," Associate Professor of Pediatrics Dr. Rachel Robison said.
According to Dr. Robison, there is an approved therapy right now for kids aged 4 to 17, but she said it is not the right fit for everyone.
"Being able to bring a clinical trial like this to the Middle Tennessee area, so that our patients can take advantage of that, is really exciting," Dr. Robison said.
Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt is a part of a global trial, looking at a potential therapy for kids with a peanut allergy. Dr. Robison is the principal investigator.
"You have to have a skin test of a certain size. You have to have a blood base test that's a certain level and you have to have a history of a reaction," Dr. Robison said.
The trial is focusing on a patch, sprayed with 1/1000 of a peanut. The kids enrolled start with a food challenge, looking at what level they react to a peanut. Then some kids will get an active patch, others will have a placebo. It will be put on their back daily, stay on for a full 24 hours and replaced.
The process will last a year. After that they will do the food challenge again, to check their reaction to peanuts.
Overall it is a large study, with a goal of enrolling 600 kids across the globe.
Dr. Robison tells us the process for FDA approval takes time, and this is the final trial for the FDA. It could be a couple years before these patches are out there.
