The parents of Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, a teenager who died from an allergic reaction to a Pret a Manger baguette, have set up a clinical trial anticipated to make “food allergies history.” The trial will investigate if everyday food products can be used as treatment and is being pegged as a unique opportunity to establish immunotherapy as a practical treatment.

Focusing on children and young people with milk and peanut allergies, the oral immunotherapy trial will aim to plug the current Oral Immunotherapy (OIT) research gap by proving that everyday foods instead of expensive pharmaceutical drugs can be used as a suitable treatment. 

The three-year OIT trial will be the first major study funded by The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, the charity set up by Nadim and Tanya Ednan-Laperouse.

Natasha’s parents Nadim and Tanya Ednan-Laperouse were awarded OBEs this year for their services to charity and people with allergies and officially announced the trial.If successful, participants with persistent food allergies will no longer have to avoid popular foods which might contain small amounts of allergens due to factory production lines or cross-contamination and also be able to eat popular foods like sandwiches, cakes and pizza safely. 

Targeting food allergies
The aim is to bring the evidence to a point wher OIT using commercially-available foods could be approved for use in the NHS to treat food-allergic patients most at risk of anaphylaxis.

Last September, FoodIngredientsFirst reported that UK businesses were “oblivious” to the then-upcoming allergen labeling legislation. 

If successful, the trial led by Nadim and Tanya Ednan-Laperouse, Natasha’s parents, will enable the NHS to provide cost-effective treatments to people with food allergies.

“We have been determined that Natasha’s death should not be in vain. Following the successful implementation of Natasha’s Law, which has brought new ingredient and allergen labeling, we are delighted to announce this huge project which is very close to our hearts, the first Natasha Trial,” says Tanya.

“The aim is to save lives and prevent serious hospitalizations by offering lifelong protection against severe allergic reactions to eventually any number of foods or ingredients,” adds Nadim. 

“The study aims to plug the current oral immunotherapy research gap by proving that ‘everyday foods’ rather than pharmaceutical drugs can be a practical treatment for children and young adults with allergies,” he explains.

“It would enable people, once desensitized under clinical supervision, to control their own lives and stay allergy safe using shop-bought foods rather than relying on expensive pharmaceutical products.”

Consortium of food businesses
The £2.2 million (US$2.7 million) trial will be funded to the University of Southampton by The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation. Natasha’s Foundation has received donations and funding from its Research Founding Partners. 

The Research Founding Partners are a consortium of food businesses: Greggs, Tesco, Just Eat, Co-op Morrisons, KFC, Bakkavor, Sainsbury’s, Bidfood, Costa Coffee, Elior UK, Burger King UK, Pret A Manger, Lidl, Leon, Cooplands and Uber Eats.

“This project presents a unique opportunity to establish immunotherapy as a practical treatment that will allow people with food allergies to live a normal life,” comments Professor Hasan Arshad, professor of allergy and clinical immunology at the University of Southampton. 

“I am immensely proud that the University of Southampton will be leading this trial in collaboration with an elite group of partner universities and clinical allergy centers.”The study aims to prove that commonly-available peanut and milk products can be used as a treatment for people living with food allergies when taken under medical supervision.

Co-chief investigator Dr. Paul Turner, reader in paediatric allergy and clinical immunology at Imperial College London, also adds: “This study heralds a new era for the active treatment of food allergy. For too long, we have told people just to avoid the food they are allergic to – that is not a treatment, and food-allergic people and their families deserve better.”

Focus on milk and peanuts
The study is recruiting 216 people aged three to 23 with one or more allergies to cow’s milk and peanuts. Children must be six and above with a peanut allergy and over three years with a milk allergy. 

The five trial sites across the UK are Leicester, Sheffield, Newcastle, Imperial College London and Southampton. 

In similar developments relating to food allergens, NHS England previously announced the availability of Palforzia – a Nestlé-owned branded immunotherapy treatment for peanuts taken daily for at least two years to treat children with peanut allergy.

In February 2020, Nestlé bolstered its biopharmaceutical investments in diabetes and food allergy solutions.