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| |  Depigmented Tree Pollen Extract Effective in Patients With Allergy to Birch Pollen: Presented at EAACI By Judith Moser, MD WARSAW, Poland -- June 9, 2009 -- In a 2-year, placebo-controlled trial, depigmented tree pollen extract proved more effective than placebo in the treatment of patients with rhinitis and/or rhinoconjunctivitis with or without allergic asthma due to primary sensitisation to birch pollen. The findings of the study were presented here at the 28th Congress of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI). “We could nicely demonstrate a significant and clinically relevant reduction in the combined symptom and medication score of 36% over placebo,” explained Angelika Sager, MD, Medical Department, LETI Pharma GmbH, Witten, Germany, here at a poster presentation on June 8. “The reduction was predominantly due to a highly reduced consumption of rescue medication.” Depigmented and glutaraldehyde polymerised allergen extracts are an attractive and safe approach for the administration of high doses of allergen. The study compared the efficacy and safety of subcutaneous immunotherapy with depigmented tree pollen extract with placebo over 2 seasons. Twenty-eight sites in Germany, Lithuania, and Poland participated in the study that included 184 patients with rhinoconjunctivitis with or without allergic asthma caused by birch pollen exposure. At the end of the study, the mean serum immunoglobulin G4 level had significantly increased from 77 to 161 ng/mL in the depigmented group, whereas in the placebo group, a decrease from 96 to 57 ng/mL was observed. A higher proportion of patients in the depigmented group experienced systemic reactions (6.6% vs 2.1%). Most of these, however, were of mild to moderate intensity. The study demonstrated an increased treatment effect in relation to pollen exposure. The difference between the groups only grew significant when the pollen exposure exceeded a certain threshold. At a pollen count of 500 grains/m3, the combined symptom and medication score was 2.1 for the depigmented group and 3.3 for the placebo group (P = .0047). “The greater the pollen exposure is, the more pronounced the treatment effect becomes,” Dr. Sager concluded. Funding for this study was provided by LETI Pharma. Presentation title: Comparison of Efficacy and Safety of Depigoid Tree Pollen Extract With Placebo in Patients With Type I Allergic Rhinoconjunctivitis. Abstract 885]
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