Free oral immunotherapy will be offered to infants with peanut allergy nationwide under the first Australian treatment program of its kind outside of a clinical trial.

As part of the ADAPT oral immunotherapy (OIT) program, eligible children under 12 months will receive a daily dosing schedule with small but increasing doses of peanut powder to build allergen tolerance over a two-year period.

The standardised treatment is only on offer to patients being treated at one of 10 participating paediatric hospitals in NSW, WA, Victoria, Queensland and SA, in partnership with the federally funded National Allergy Centre of Excellence.

Chief investigator Professor Kirsten Perrett said OIT was already used worldwide but varying protocols made it hard to evaluate its efficacy.