Good News/Bad News: Good news for those who suffer from peanut allergies. A drug to prevent death from accidental ingestion is on the horizon. The drug is an antibody that neutralizes the antibody responsible for the allergy. The bad news is that the clinical trials of the drug are being held up by litigation between the companies involved in its production. Details can be found in the Perspective article from the New England Journal of Medicine. (PDF file) The same article has an excellent illustration of how the drug works. The original research paper is here. (also PDF).

One other interesting article on the same issue, found that children with eczema and peanut allergies had a greater likelihood of having been treated with skin lotions containing peanut oil as infants. (yet another PDF)

The new drug has its drawbacks. It requires monthly injections, and it doesn't give a person free license to eat peanuts. But, it does seem to provide protection against potentially deadly accidental peanut ingestions, which are difficult to avoid no matter how vigilant one is.