Peanut Allergy Immunotherapy Increases Anaphylaxis Risk: Study

Although the oral treatment seems to work, an analysis of the results from 12 clinical trials finds kids who got an immunotherapy have a greater rate of serious reactions.

kerry grens
| 2 min read
peanut allergy anaphylaxis oit oral immunotherapy

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A treatment for peanut allergies that involves giving children small, oral doses of the allergen appears to desensitize them to peanuts, according to a meta-analysis of 12 clinical trials published yesterday (April 25) in The Lancet. But the intervention was also linked to a two- to threefold higher risk of participants experiencing the severe allergic reaction known as anaphylaxis, compared to those taking a placebo or avoiding peanuts.

“In our study we found that this increase occurred for all preparations of OIT [oral immunotherapy] used and for all protocols,” coauthor Derek Chu of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, tells MedPage Today. “The bottom line is that this therapy is still experimental, and physicians and patients need to understand that.”

Chu and his colleagues gathered data from more than 1,000 kids who participated in the randomized controlled clinical trials. They found that the oral immunotherapy led to ...

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  • kerry grens

    Kerry Grens

    Kerry served as The Scientist’s news director until 2021. Before joining The Scientist in 2013, she was a stringer for Reuters Health, the senior health and science reporter at WHYY in Philadelphia, and the health and science reporter at New Hampshire Public Radio. Kerry got her start in journalism as a AAAS Mass Media fellow at KUNC in Colorado. She has a master’s in biological sciences from Stanford University and a biology degree from Loyola University Chicago.

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