Oral Immunotherapy Desensitizes Children With Peanut Allergy

Treatment with a peanut-derived investigational biologic oral immunotherapy drug effectively reduced sensitivity in children and adolescents with severe peanut allergy, according to the results of a recent study.

The phase 3 trial involved 551 participants, aged 4 to 55 years, with peanut allergy. The participants were screened using a challenge dose of 100 mg or less of peanut protein in a double-blind, placebo-controlled food challenge. They were randomly assigned (3:1) to either receive oral immunotherapy or placebo. Those that completed the escalating-dose program went on to participate in a double-blind, placebo-controlled food challenge at trial exit.

Of the 551 total participants, 496 participants who were 4 to 17 years of age. Of these, 372 received active treatment and 124 received placebo. Overall, 67.2% of those who received active treatment were able to ingest a dose of 600 mg or more of peanut protein during the exit challenge, compared with 4% of those who received placebo.

“In this phase 3 trial of oral immunotherapy in children and adolescents who were highly allergic to peanut, treatment with AR101 resulted in higher doses of peanut protein that could be ingested without dose-limiting symptoms and in lower symptom severity during peanut exposure at the exit food challenge than placebo.”

—Michael Potts

Reference:

PALISADE Group of Clinical Investigators. AR101 oral immunotherapy for peanut allergy [published online November 18, 2018]. NEJM. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1812856.