The DBV Technologies website is where you can come to find out more about French firm DBV-Technologies’ drive to beat some of the most prevalent food allergies of our time.
Source: http://www.dbv-technologies.com
The company, based in the Greater Paris area, has been using special electrosprays (which you can see in the photograph below) to spray antigens onto adhesive patches, which are then worn on the skin. Once in place, the interaction between the skin and the patch first moisturizes the skin, then turns the dry antigen back into liquid form, so it can penetrate the skin and get into the Langerhans cells. These are very tolerogenic cells, making them suitable for being exposed to the antigens that trigger allergic reactions in the patient, with a view to desensitizing said patient – without putting them at risk of anaphylaxis.
The same approach could in theory work for many different allergies. At the present time, DBV-Technologies has been working on Viaskin egg, Viaskin Cow’s Milk and Viaskin Peanut. The firm is also interested in working on methods of treating Eosinophilic Esophagitis.