Nestlé takes stake in Aimmune

Nestlé Health Science is making a $145 million investment in Aimmune Therapeutics, a biotech firm developing treatments for food allergies. Aimmune is working on “characterized oral desensitization technology,” or CODIT, a way of desensitizing a patient to a food allergen by gradually increasing exposure over a period of months. The biotech’s lead product, AR101, is in Phase III studies for people with peanut allergies. The companies also signed a two-year research pact to develop other oral immunotherapies.