Thursday, June 28, 2018 02:30 PM

If you think food allergies are getting more and more prevalent in the United States, you're probably right.

Surveys have shown a stark increase[1] in allergy-related incidents in recent years. Experts estimate[2] that up to 20 million people in the United States are affected by food allergies, some of which can manifest in very severe ways.

Between 4 and 6 percent of children and 4 percent of adults are afflicted. The prevalence has led to lawsuits over restaurants' liabilities[3] in food-allergy incidents and studies on the psychological toll[4] allergies can take on patients.

But with its newest drug, biotechnology company Aimmune Therapeutics[5] is trying to buck the trend.

"What were doing is taking a technique thats been around for a while called oral immunotherapy and were making it widely available," Stephen Dilly, the company's founding executive chairman and former CEO, told CNBC.

"The idea is ...