Epicutaneous Immunotherapy (EPIT) introduces

new way to treat peanut allergies

(Press Release)

Houston, TX – A team of researchers unveiled the results of their highly anticipated multi-national, double-blind, placebo controlled randomized Phase IIb trial for a peanut patch, known as Viaskin® Peanut.

“This is exciting news for families who suffer with peanut allergies because Viaskin represents a new treatment option for patients and physicians,” according to Hugh A. Sampson, MD, FAAAAI, Director of the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute at the Kravis Children's Hospital at Mount Sinai and first author of the late-breaking abstract.

Epicutaneous immunotherapy (EPIT or allergy patches) ushers in a new way to induce tolerance as peanut-allergic patients receive small doses of peanut proteins through patches placed on their skin. This particular study, funded by DBV Technologies, recruited 221 peanut-allergic individuals to test 50µg, 100 µg, or 250 µg peanut patch doses (or placebo doses) for one year. Patients underwent an oral peanut challenge at entry and at one year to determine their threshold of reactivity.

The 250 µg peanut patch shows the most promise for researchers. “After one year of therapy, half of the patients treated with the 250 ug 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,” Sampson explained.

Compliance was greater than 95% and less than 1% of the participants dropped out of the study due to adverse symptoms. In fact, there were no serious adverse reactions related to the patch treatment.

Overall, children treated with the 250 µg patch experienced a robust increase (19 fold) in peanut-specific IgG4 levels, the antibody associated with protection following immunotherapy.

“EPIT appears safe, well tolerated and effective. That’s good news for families who suffer from food allergies,” Sampson said.

For more information on food allergies or the AAAAI Annual Meeting, please visit the AAAAI website.

                                          ###