Could a major medical prize be within the grasp of the researchers at DBV Technologies? That’s the question that could be on everybody’s lips as the Paris-based firm continues to develop its adhesive patches for the diagnosis and treatment of allergies. You can click here to see the full range of Viaskin products being produced by the company. As well as egg allergy patches, progress is being made on the Viaskin Milk and Viaskin Peanut front.
From its high-tech laboratories in the Greater Paris area (shown below), DBV-Technologies have created an arm patch that contains minute doses of a protein compound, namely the allergen that triggers the body’s allergic reaction. Once applied, the patch creates a kind of ‘condensation chamber’ with the skin, solubilizing the dry compounds and enabling them to penetrate the epidermis and reach the Langerhans cells, the body’s most tolerogenic cells. This makes them perfect for the business of ‘desensitizing’ the patient to the substances contained in the patch. The patch has major advantages over other kinds of techniques, one of the most important being the way in which this method reduces the likelihood of anaphylactic shock.