Nothing could be more important for billions of parents worldwide than their children’s health and well-being. It’s not surprising then that pediatric allergies have a wider public profile than ever before. The prevalence of allergies affecting children is one of the driving forces behind DBV-Technologies (DBV Technologies.com) and the Viaskin patches they are currently developing. These are adhesive patches which, it is hoped, will one day make children far less vulnerable to severe allergic reactions to a range of foodstuffs.

Viaskin patches can be used to both diagnose and treat allergies, as can be seen in this introduction to the firm’s peanut allergy treatment. Peanut allergy is particularly problematic given its rapid spread in recent years and the potentially fatal consequences of peanut-triggered anaphylaxis. The patches work by introducing very small quantities of the antigen into the patient’s body through the skin. Over a period of time, this ‘desensitizes’ the patient to the allergen in question. This approach can be adapted to tackle a number of different allergies, including cows’ milk protein, which you can find out about via the link in the picture below.