James Paget Hospital to use Palforzia peanut allergy treatment

Even a small amount of peanut can cause a severe reaction on people with allergies

A hospital has become the first in the UK to treat patients with peanut allergies using a newly approved drug.

A peanut allergy desensitisation clinic at the James Paget Hospital in Norfolk is using the Nice-approved drug Palforzia.

Peanut allergy affects more than six million people in the UK, Europe and America.

Children will receive the drug in escalating doses to desensitise them to peanut proteins.

People with the allergy can suffer severe and potentially life-threatening reactions if they ingest even a small amount of peanut.

The current approach is to avoid them through dietary intake, and carry around emergency medication in case peanut proteins are eaten.

Oral immunotherapy is an alternative approach - where the immune system is desensitised to peanut proteins by steadily increased exposure to them as an oral medication.

James Paget's paediatric nurse practitioner Clive Ellis (l) and Dr John Chapman with packs of the Palforzia drug

Palforzia helps to reduce the severity of reactions to peanuts - including anaphylaxis - making family holidays abroad, birthday parties, and Christmas treats possible for some children for the first time, the NHS said.

Patients receive a monthly dose, enabling tolerance to be carefully built over time.

Prof Stephen Powis, NHS medical director, said the "pioneering treatment could be life-changing for patients and their families".

James Paget Hospital has been part of the global Artemis research trial into peanut allergies, which involved 175 children aged 4-17, across seven European countries, to develop an oral immunotherapy to tackle the allergy.

The trust has now become the first hospital in the UK to be licensed to use Palforzia in the clinic.

The hospital is expecting to treat between 10 and 12 children in the first year.

Dr John Chapman, consultant paediatrician at the James Paget, said: "Having this treatment in place as an option is a vital part of supporting people with peanut allergies, many of whom are very young when this allergy is discovered."