More than one-third of children with peanut allergy successfully built up their tolerance to peanut protein after treatment with an immunotherapy skin patch, a study with Australian participants has shown.

However, the results failed to meet a statistical element of the primary outcome set by the US Food and Drug Administration, leaving clinicians to decide for themselves if the peanut-patch treatment has promise.

In a phase III trial conducted across 31 international sites, including three in Australia, 356 peanut-allergic children aged between four and 11, with no history of anaphylactic reaction, were given a daily treatment of either a patch containing 250µg of peanut protein or placebo.

After 12 months, 35% of children with the allergen patch responded to the immunotherapy compared with 14% who received placebo. This was determined via a food challenge.