The University of Chicago Medicine was part of a landmark clinical trial that led to approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of the first oral immunotherapy treatment for peanut allergy in children and teens.
Peanuts are among the most common food allergies, affecting an estimated 1.6 million children in the United States, according to a 2018 study published in the journal Pediatrics. Palforzia, manufactured by Aimmune Therapeutics Inc., should significantly reduce the severity of allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, after accidental peanut exposure.
The patients I treated have universally expressed relief that they no longer have to live in constant fear that one wrong bite of something with peanuts will result in an emergency injection of epinephrine." Christina Ciaccio, MD, MSc, UChicago Medicine associate professor of pediatrics and medicine and the site's principal investigator Related Stories