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Experimental Drug Offers Hope for Peanut Allergy Sufferers
Aired March 11, 2003 - 11:38 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: For about 1.5 million Americans, eating a single peanut could be dangerous, even deadly. But a new experimental drug offers some hope for people with severe peanut allergies, and our medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, is here with the details on that in our "Daily Dose" of health news this morning -- good to see you.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you. Leon, it's really hard for some people with peanut allergies. Just half a peanut, that is what I have right here. This could kill some people who are very sensitive to peanuts.
HARRIS: That's incredible.
COHEN: It is incredible. And, of course, people with peanut allergies are smart. They know how to read labels, they know not to eat peanuts or peanut butter, but sometimes traces of peanuts end up in the strangest places, like in chili or in pastries, or even in egg rolls.
So what this experimental drug does is people with sensitive peanut allergies could take it once a month. It's a shot, and it increases their threshold to peanuts. So that instead of half a peanut being enough to kill them, it increases their tolerance to nine peanuts.
Now, that may not sound like much. But let's take a look at what we have here. We have half a peanut on one tray and nine peanuts on the other tray. And what this does is that if somehow someone ends up with a dish that has just half a peanut in it, instead of that being a real problem for them, they would have to eat nine peanuts, all the ones here, for that to be a problem.
So what it does is it increases the margin of error. In other words, it would give someone more time to get their EpiPen, it would give them more time to get to the emergency room, which can mean the difference between life and death. Between 50 and 100 Americans die each year because of reactions to peanuts.
HARRIS: Wouldn't doctors be a little worried that people that think if they take this drug they could just go nuts on nuts?
COHEN: Absolutely. That is absolutely. That is -- they don't want that to happen. And so if this drug does becomes widely available, they would have to instruct patients, Hey, just because we're giving you a shot once a month does not mean that you can eat peanut butter. It does not mean that you can go to the ball game and open up a bag of peanuts and just start eating them. All it is -- it is there for just in case by mistake someone gets a trace of peanuts. It will give them a bigger window of opportunity to go get medical help.
HARRIS: OK. So when is the drug available?
COHEN: Not for three or four years. Unfortunately, it has been held up. It had been fast tracked, and people were hoping it would be sooner, but it's been held up because three drug companies are in litigation over this drug. As you can imagine, if this drug really does work out, it's going to be a lot of money. So they're in court now, which is holding up some of the studies. But they say three to four years.
HARRIS: Let me know when they come up with something like that for shellfish.
COHEN: That is right. That is right.
HARRIS: We'll talk about that some other time.
COHEN: OK.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Sufferers>
Aired March 11, 2003 - 11:38 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: For about 1.5 million Americans, eating a single peanut could be dangerous, even deadly. But a new experimental drug offers some hope for people with severe peanut allergies, and our medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, is here with the details on that in our "Daily Dose" of health news this morning -- good to see you.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you. Leon, it's really hard for some people with peanut allergies. Just half a peanut, that is what I have right here. This could kill some people who are very sensitive to peanuts.
HARRIS: That's incredible.
COHEN: It is incredible. And, of course, people with peanut allergies are smart. They know how to read labels, they know not to eat peanuts or peanut butter, but sometimes traces of peanuts end up in the strangest places, like in chili or in pastries, or even in egg rolls.
So what this experimental drug does is people with sensitive peanut allergies could take it once a month. It's a shot, and it increases their threshold to peanuts. So that instead of half a peanut being enough to kill them, it increases their tolerance to nine peanuts.
Now, that may not sound like much. But let's take a look at what we have here. We have half a peanut on one tray and nine peanuts on the other tray. And what this does is that if somehow someone ends up with a dish that has just half a peanut in it, instead of that being a real problem for them, they would have to eat nine peanuts, all the ones here, for that to be a problem.
So what it does is it increases the margin of error. In other words, it would give someone more time to get their EpiPen, it would give them more time to get to the emergency room, which can mean the difference between life and death. Between 50 and 100 Americans die each year because of reactions to peanuts.
HARRIS: Wouldn't doctors be a little worried that people that think if they take this drug they could just go nuts on nuts?
COHEN: Absolutely. That is absolutely. That is -- they don't want that to happen. And so if this drug does becomes widely available, they would have to instruct patients, Hey, just because we're giving you a shot once a month does not mean that you can eat peanut butter. It does not mean that you can go to the ball game and open up a bag of peanuts and just start eating them. All it is -- it is there for just in case by mistake someone gets a trace of peanuts. It will give them a bigger window of opportunity to go get medical help.
HARRIS: OK. So when is the drug available?
COHEN: Not for three or four years. Unfortunately, it has been held up. It had been fast tracked, and people were hoping it would be sooner, but it's been held up because three drug companies are in litigation over this drug. As you can imagine, if this drug really does work out, it's going to be a lot of money. So they're in court now, which is holding up some of the studies. But they say three to four years.
HARRIS: Let me know when they come up with something like that for shellfish.
COHEN: That is right. That is right.
HARRIS: We'll talk about that some other time.
COHEN: OK.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Sufferers>
