The parents of a teenager who died from an allergic reaction to a Pret baguette have set up a clinical trial aimed at “making food allergies history”.
Tanya and Nadim Ednan-Laperouse started the trial to see whether tolerance to allergies can be built using everyday foods.
The couple’s 15-year-old daughter Natasha died in 2016 after she suffered a severe allergic reaction to sesame in a Pret sandwich.
The three-year oral immunotherapy trial, funded by the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, will be led by the University of Southampton and University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust.
The £2.2 million trial aims to show people with food allergies may no longer have to avoid foods that contain small amounts of allergens due to production – and they may also be able to eat popular foods like cakes, curries and pizzas.
In December 2021, the NHS backed Palforzia, a treatment to reduce the severity of reactions to peanuts, including anaphylaxis.
Patients are given a small monthly dose of their allergen and then monitored for up to two years.
In contrast, this trial will look at whether everyday foods can be used as a treatment for allergies.
200 recruited and monitored for two years
After an initial 12 months of desensitisation under strict medical supervision, those taking part will be followed for two more years to provide longer-term data.
Funding for the trial has been raised by the foundation, including from food businesses such as Greggs, Tesco, Just Eat, Co-op, Morrisons, KFC, Sainsbury’s, Costa, Burger King, Pret, Lidl and Leon.
The study will recruit 216 people between the ages of three and 23 with an allergy to cow’s milk, and aged six to 23 with an allergy to peanuts.
Mr Ednan-Laperouse said: “This is a major first step in our mission to make food allergies history.
“The aim is to save lives and prevent serious hospitalisations by offering lifelong protection against severe allergic reactions to foods.
“We are delighted that a consortium of food businesses are supporting our work with donations that will help fund this study.
“The study aims to plug the current oral immunotherapy research gap by proving that everyday foods can be used as a practical treatment for children and young adults with allergies at a fraction of the cost to the NHS.
“If successful, this will empower the NHS to provide cost-effective treatments for people living with food allergies through oral immunotherapy.
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“It would enable people, once desensitised under clinical supervision, to control their own lives and stay allergy safe using shop-bought foods rather than expensive pharmaceutical products.”
Natasha’s Law
Natasha had bought an artichoke, olive, and tapenade baguette from the Pret store at Heathrow airport before boarding a flight to Nice with her father.
The sandwich did not have any allergen advice on its wrapper because it was made on the premises – and this was not a legal requirement at the time.
Two epipens were administered into her legs by her father, but she didn’t improve and was later declared dead at a French hospital.
In October 2021 a new food safety law, known as Natasha’s Law, was brought in, requiring full ingredient and allergen labelling on all food made on the premises.
Mrs Ednan-Laperouse said: “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 labelling, we are delighted to announce the first Natasha clinical trial.”
The couple was given OBEs earlier this year for their campaigning.
Co-chief investigator Dr Paul Turner, reader in paediatric allergy and clinical immunology at Imperial College London, added: “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.”
