A study presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) in Atlanta this week shows that raising a patient’s eliciting dose of peanut protein (the amount that causes a reaction) with immunotherapy greatly reduces the risk of reactions from frequently consumed packaged foods that may contain traces of peanut.
The presentation by Dr Joe Baumert, University of Nebraska, Food Allergy Research & Resource Program (FARRP) showed a greater than 99% relative risk reduction was associated with reaching a post-therapy threshold of 300mg if the individual’s initial eliciting dose was less than or equal to 10mg, or reaching a post-therapy threshold of 1,000mg if the individual’s initial eliciting dose was less than or equal to 300mg.
The study was conducted using a Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) model developed independently by FARRP, a leading institution focused on providing expertise on allergenic foods and food safety. The model used common packaged food items such as cookies, ice cream, doughnuts, snack cakes and snack chip mixes as references for the assessment.
DBV Technologies, the pharmaceutical company behind the Viaskin family of Epicutaneous (EPIT or “patch”) therapies, funded the study and formulated the research question related to Phase IIb clinical trials of their Viaskin Peanut therapy.
