Summary
Binary event coming soon in form of Phase III Results.
Primary competitor faltering after Phase III misstep.
Large underserved community in a growing market.
Have you ever noticed a disclaimer on packaging that states that a product was manufactured in a facility that also handles peanuts Of course you have! Peanut allergies are terrifying to parents worldwide, peanut allergy is the most common form of food related death across the globe and currently the only treatment is a shot of epinephrine, turning parents into makeshift molecular biologists in attempting to keep their children away from anything related to the delicious legume.
Unfortunately, this is a trend that is likely to get much worse before it gets better. According to the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, the incidence of peanut allergies has risen by almost 4000% within the last 20 years alone! The reasons why this terrifying trend is accelerating are unclear and wrought with debate and blame.
Pharmaceutical companies have also taken notice, I assume out of the sense of the greater good and the Hippocratic Oath of ethics… With the small silver lining of making billions and billions of dollars as a kicker.
Enter Aimmune Therapeutics (AIMT), with its Phase III therapy for peanut allergy AR101 (data readout expected in Q1 2018) which allows a child to build up a tolerance in the body and desensitize it.
What caught my eye here was the phase II readout showing frankly amazing results with unquestioned therapeutic effect and reduction of symptoms, the major caveat is that there appears to be 6 dropouts in the trial or roughly 20%, which by any measure is a high number of dropouts and cause for some concern.
