It is estimated that there are thousands of people in Ireland with a severe peanut allergy.
496 young people aged four to 17 years old from 10 countries in Europe and North America took part in a trial of a biologic oral immunotherapy drug.
The drug itself is derived from peanuts, which gradually gets the body used to the allergen over time as the dosage increases.
All those involved in the study were found to have a severe allergy to peanuts, tested by having them consume one third of a peanut.
Under hospital supervision, 372 of the group were given tiny doses of the therapy, known as AR101.
The dose was then gradually increased over time, until six months later when participants were consuming the equivalent of one entire peanut.
For an additional six months, they were maintained on that same dose, and at the end of that time period, they were all given two peanuts to consume.
67% of those who had taken the treatment were able to tolerate the peanuts, experiencing little more than mild symptoms of their allergies.
However, those being the research are quick to point out that this does not represent a cure for the allergy, as an ongoing intake of the drug may be needed.
It is also unclear for how long after someone stops taking the drug that the immunity build-up will remain.
The findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicines, and it is hoped that the results here could be used to aid in other allergens.
Professor Jonathan Hourihane, Principal Investigator at the INFANT Centre at University College Cork, who led the Irish leg of the trial, told RTÉ News:
“This is a game-changer and the flood gates are going to open with people wanting to have this treatment and we have to work out how to do that.
“I think it is a controlling process, they have to keep eating peanut to stay safe. Some people can’t do that and some people don’t want to keep doing it.
“But we think that if these people stay on peanut they are going to be safe while on the peanut and that’s a massive change to being unsafe off peanut which is how they were before.”
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