People have been working for years on ways of diagnosing or treating various allergies in ways that are effective yet safe. Sometimes it has seemed like an impossible dream, but now DBV Technologies

(http://www.dbv-technologies.com/en/) is really giving cause for hope that such a solution can be found. Take a look at http://www.dbv-technologies.com/en/viaskin-products and you’ll see the cause of this new hope – the viaskin patch. This is a discreet adhesive patch that’s applied to the skin. The diagram below shows how it works. An electrospray coats the top layer of the patch with allergens. Heat from the patient’s body creates a ‘condensation chamber’ between the skin and this layer, hydrating it and solubilizing the allergens. In this state they pass through the skin and into the Langerhans cells. These cells are very tolerogenic and it’s this property that makes this form of immunotherapy much safer than traditional approaches such as injections. Allergens are not introduced directly into the bloodstream, which greatly reduces the likelihood of severe allergic reactions being triggered by the treatment.