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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...

Alkis Togias, the branch chief of allergy, asthma, and airway biology at the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, tells CNN the data show the intervention is at an early stage. “From our perspective as an agency that is responsible for research in the field, what it tells us is that we need to improve on the methods for treating food allergy, especially peanut allergy.”

Chu tells CBC News that oral immunotherapy for peanut allergy is still worth pursuing. “We’re not outright saying that . . . this should be denounced or that this should be abandoned. Far from it,” Chu says. “From a research standpoint this is a major advance. We’re almost there.”

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