SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio allergy clinic is participating in a study that could solve a child's sensitivity to peanuts in small, incremental steps.
Sylvana Research is conducting the test to see if an oral peanut powder can give children a chance at long-term desensitization.
The powder is expected to approved by U.S. Food and Drug Administration by 2018, but there are still a few spots left for patients who want to enroll.
Jennifer Schoenfeld can vividly remember when her daughter ate her first peanut butter sandwich at the age of 2.
"She ate it and it came straight back up. She got hives. Her lips swelled up. It was incredibly dramatic and terrible," Schoenfeld said. Her other daughter, Maya, is part of the study to see if she can tolerate the oral powder mixed with chocolate pudding.
"We are starting out with the equivalent of one-thousandth of one peanut," Dr. Paul Ratner said. "But hopefully, they will build up to about two peanuts. The point of all of this is to prevent accidental ingestions."
Maya didn't have an adverse reaction to the peanut sample while KSAT 12 News was shooting the story. But her mother said the first time Maya was asked to ingest peanuts in food, there was an emergency. That's why the clinic is ready to respond if there's a problem. The clinic has Zyrtec, an adrenaline injection, and an inhaler on standby. If the reaction gets worse, there's a kit for anaphylactic shock.
Testing has shown the oral drug trial can have gastrointestinal side effects in 20 percent of patients, but it can go away with time. That's why Sylvana Research's upcoming trial for a peanut allergy patch is highly anticipated.
"The difference is the oral one is getting patients up to about three times the maximum dose of the patch, so the safety level is going to be higher with the oral," Ratner said. "But the adverse events and reactions are going to be lower with the patch. There's probably going to be a group of people who fit into either category and one or the other will work."
The new clinical trial begins in October and the office is enrolling patients now. For more information, click here.
For Maya, it will be a relief to have accidental contact with peanuts without consequence.
"Having a little tolerance will help her physical self and her mind because she won't be so worried," her mom said.