An experimental treatment aimed at helping people with severe peanut allergy scored a clinical win Tuesday, putting it in line to possibly become the first drug to provide meaningful protection against accidental exposure.
Based on the positive results, Aimmune Therapeutics expects to seek U.S. approval for its preventative peanut allergy therapy by the end of the year, with a European filing in 2019, the company said.
About the Author Reprints
As a ~65-year-old with a life-long severe peanut allergy I find this article a little amusing but noted that it does conclude there is no cure for a peanut allergy so BRAVO.
From my experience
1. The only viable cure for ingesting peanut products is to expel them; and
2. I have always coached others and suggested parents teach their children to
a. quickly identify when they are having an allergic reaction; then
b. immediately expel the peanuts from their system (aka vomit)
3. The recovery time is basically 1:1 (i.e. 30 minutes ingested = 30 minutes to recover or stabilize)
My sense is relying on immunotherapy or an EpiPen is not prudent and a bad strategy since it only masks the symptoms and fails to address the root cause which, unless it is expelled, must then pass through the sufferer’s system over the next 12-24 hours. Why would/should anyone subject themselves or others to that misery?
Fun fact:
this “exceptional” compound, AR101, is nothing other than defatted powdered lightly roasted peanut flour! Used sprinkled on food about to be eaten to desensitize the subject (all above data from their efficacy and safety study). And the challenging amount in the trial was equivalent to three peanut kernels.
Basically, the whole business is pointless as I don’t see how you can forbid any nut/food company out there to sell powdered defatted peanuts at 100 mg doses in the supermarket. Or even better, you can grind half a kernel of roasted peanuts yourself on your food, and you get the same (I believe the fat is not therapeutically particularly relevant).
But, “sophisticated” investors and their “qualified” consultants surely know better.
When I read this stories (like the Innate Immunotherapeutics one), I wonder if everyone from the visionary entrepreneurs, to the investors, consultants, FDA representatives and journalists are just a bunch of ignorant m***ns, or more or less skilled scammers.