An Allergy Therapeutics PLC (LON:AGY) breakthrough has the potential to protect against severe allergic reactions to peanuts, according to research carried by a leading academic journal.
The single injection helped mice generate “sustained immunity and protection through vaccination”, helping prevent anaphylaxis.
“There are currently no approved immunotherapies for the treatment of, or to cure, patients suffering from peanut allergy, which remains a frequent cause of anaphylactic reactions among food allergies,” the company said.
Allergy Therapeutics' vaccine candidate uses a formulation incorporating that enhances the body's immune response by making the peanut allergen resemble an invading virus.
The data from the firm’s early-stage study was carried in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, or JACI for short.
The first clinical trials of the vaccine are expected to get underway over the summer.
Manuel Llobet, chief executive of Allergy Therapeutics, called the latest results “very promising”.
“The development of an effective and safe peanut allergy vaccine would be significant, offering huge and life-changing benefits to sufferers affected by this condition,” he added.
“The science behind allergy vaccination is incredibly difficult given the complexity of our immune systems and at Allergy Therapeutics we have been working on our peanut allergy vaccine for over three years.”