Coming from a mom that has a son with a severe peanut allergy, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of a relief when I read the headlines this morning… The FDA Just Approved The First Peanut Allergy Treatment For Kids. Here’s What Parents Need to Know.
Now, it’s important to know from the beginning that this is NOT a cure. It’s a treatment method to help lessen the chances of an anaphylactic reaction should your child accidentally ingest peanuts.
The treatment is called Palforzia and is a powder substance that is orally taken in small doses to help build a tolerance to peanuts.
According to the
FDA report, Palforzia is approved for patients that are at least four years old and have a confirmed peanut allergy.
“PALFORZIA is an oral immunotherapy indicated for the mitigation of allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, that may occur with accidental exposure to peanut.”
It also important to note that again, this is not meant to allow your children to eventually be able to eat peanuts and peanut butter without a reaction. In fact, the drug itself says:
“PALFORZIA is to be used in conjunction with a peanut-avoidant diet.”
I will say, that I am excited about this. Last year, we had our annual check up with an allergist for our son and found he was still highly allergic to peanuts. At that time, the doctor told me about several treatments they were testing for this exact purpose – to build a tolerance for accidentally exposure.
The one thing our doctor stressed was that, once a treatment is started, it can’t be stopped. Your child would have to consistently ingest peanut powder for the rest of their lives or they could entirely lose the benefit it provides. That’s exactly what was stressed with this new FDA approved drug.
Now that my son will be starting Kindergarten this coming school year, I am going to look into this. My biggest fear has always been if he is at school and has an accidental exposure or is at a friends house and has an accident.
Treatments like this can save lives so, if you have a child with a peanut allergy, it is certainly worth knowing about. You can
read more about the FDA Approved Peanut Allergy Treatment Here.
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