Health experts back treatment for kids with peanut allergy

Government health experts are urging approval of a treatment for children with life-threatening peanut allergies.

The daily medication is designed to build up children's tolerance to peanuts and reduce dangerous allergic reactions. Currently there are no medical treatments for the condition.

The panel of advisers to the Food and Drug Administration voted overwhelmingly in favor of the treatment from Aimmune Therapeutics. The FDA will make its own decision in coming months.

Peanut allergy is the most common food allergy in the country. Currently the standard treatment involves strictly limiting children's diet. That approach doesn't always work, and many children face trips to the emergency room after accidental exposure.

The proposed treatment involves small, daily doses of peanut powder to build up patients' immunity to the ingredient.