Aimmune : PALISADE Trial Of AR101 Published In New England Journal Of Medicine

(RTTNews) - Aimmune Therapeutics, Inc. (AIMT) announced that the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) has published the full results of the landmark phase 3 PALISADE clinical trial of AR101, Aimmune's investigational biologic oral immunotherapy for desensitization of patients with peanut allergy. PALISADE is the largest and first successful phase 3 peanut allergy immunotherapy trial to date.

The company noted that PALISADE met its primary endpoint and key secondary endpoints. In the trial's primary analysis of peanut-allergic children and adolescents ages 4-17, AR101 treatment resulted in a significant increase in the amount of peanut protein tolerated, compared to placebo. The increase, which was measured through a series of doses in an exit food challenge, suggests that AR101-treated patients could expect to have protection against reactions to accidental peanut exposures.

In a real-world translation of the amounts of peanut protein tolerated (where one whole peanut kernel contains approximately 250-300 mg of peanut protein), 67% of AR101 patients tolerated a single dose of at least 2 peanuts; among AR101 patients who completed the trial, 85% percent tolerated this level, which is equivalent to 3-4 peanuts of total exposure. Also, 50% of AR101 patients tolerated the highest challenge level, a single dose equivalent to 3-4 peanuts (7-8 peanuts total exposure).

AR101 treatment also resulted in a reduction in the number and severity of reactions in the exit food challenge, compared to placebo. In the exit challenge,10% of AR101 patients received epinephrine, and the median dose at which it was given was 1,000 mg of peanut protein (or 2,043 mg of total exposure), compared to 53% of placebo patients at a median dose of 100 mg. This corresponds to an overall 81% reduction in epinephrine use in AR101 patients across all levels of the exit challenge, with a 99% reduction at the 300-mg level and a 94% reduction at the 600-mg level.

AR101 demonstrated a favorable safety profile in the highly atopic patient population enrolled in PALISADE. Treatment-emergent adverse events occurred in more than 95% of patients in both trial groups, and nearly all were mild or moderate in severity. In AR101 patients who experienced treatment-related adverse events, 2.4% experienced severe adverse events and 1.1% experienced serious adverse events. Epinephrine was used for severe adverse events in two patients, one of which was the single case of anaphylaxis in the trial.