The Viaskin® patch – DBV-Technologies’ secret weapon in the war against allergies!

You probably haven’t yet heard of Viaskin®, but a quick look on the DBV-Technologies website will soon put that right. Many different approaches have been tried out on the increasingly-pressing problem of allergies such as peanut allergy and cows’ milk protein allergy, with varying degrees of success. The Viaskin® technique is unusual in that it does not deliver antigens into the patient’s bloodstream. This makes it much easier to avoid triggering potentially dangerous allergic reactions. Instead, it facilitates the delivery of the antigens into the Langerhans cells present in the skin.

When the patch is worn over extended periods of time, this can have the effect of ‘tolerizing’ the patient to a range of allergies. One version of the patch is currently under development for use as a peanut allergy treatment . As illustrated, the patch can be discreetly placed upon the skin, where it is firmly held in place by an adhesive crown. Viaskin® patches are particularly suitable for babies and young children as an alternative to more painful, intrusive treatments.