Break-Through Patch Effectively Treats Peanut Allergy

The results of a highly anticipated multi-national, double-blinded, placebo controlled randomized Phase IIb trial for Viaskin, a peanut patch, revealed that the new treatment was well tolerated and effective for those who suffer from peanut allergies.

“After one year of therapy, half of the patients treated with the 250 µg patch tolerated at least 1 gram of peanut protein—about four peanuts—which is 10 times the dose that they tolerated in their entry oral peanut challenge,” said Hugh A. Sampson, MD, FAAAAI, lead author of the study and Director of the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute at the Kravis Children's Hospital at Mount Sinai.
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For the study, funded by DBV Technologies, researchers monitored the effects of peanut patch doses at 50µg, 100 µg, or 250 µg on 221 participants with peanut allergies for 1 year.

To determine each participant’s threshold of reactivity, each patient underwent oral peanut challenges at baseline and at the 1-year mark.

The investigators discovered that the 250 µg peanut patch yielded the greatest efficacy and tolerability in patients.

Compliance was higher than 95% and less than 1% of the participants quit the study because of adverse symptoms, and no major adverse reactions were reported.

The researchers further noted that children who were treated with the 250 µg patch showed a major increase (19 fold) in peanut-specific IgF4 levels: the antibody linked to protection after immunotherapy.

-Michelle Canales Butcher

Reference:

American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology. Late-breaking peanut patch phase IIb trial results unveiled at AAAAI Annual Meeting. February 20, 2015. www.aaaai.org/about-the-aaaai/newsroom/news-releases/peanut-patch.aspx. Accessed March 19, 2015.