Largest European Quantitative Study on Peanut Allergy Confirms Significant Need, Burden and Psychosocial Impact of Peanut Allergy on Allergic Individuals and their Caregivers

Aimmune Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: AIMT), a biopharmaceutical company developing and commercializing treatments for life-threatening food allergies, today announced that findings from APPEAL-1 (Allergy to Peanuts ImPacting Emotions And Life-1), a multi-dimensional pan-European study assessing the psychosocial effect and impact of living with peanut allergy, were published in Allergy, one of the official journals of European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI). The study, published in two parts (Part A and Part B), highlights the substantial impact peanut allergy has on every aspect of allergic individuals’ and their caregivers’ lives, including the uncertainty they feel around how to manage frightening and debilitating reactions and concerns about the feasibility of ongoing avoidance.

Peanut allergy is one of the most common food allergies, which affect over 17 million people in Europe.ⁱ The prevalence of peanut allergy in Europe has doubled between 2005 and 2015, and around two-thirds of schools in Europe currently have at least one child at risk of anaphylaxis.^ii,iii Reactions to peanut are potentially life-threatening, accounting for the majority of deaths related to food allergy.^iv

APPEAL-1 is the first and largest quantitative study to validate and bring attention to the significant burden and psychosocial impact with which allergic individuals and their caregivers are challenged in their daily lives. The findings illustrate the impact of living with the condition, and how attempting to avoid peanuts every day can be a major source of stress, fear and anxiety, clouded by the persistent worry of accidental exposure for both the allergic individual and their caregiver. The data also demonstrate that across Europe there is insufficient education for coping and living with the disease and the management of reactions. Ambiguity over how to use rescue medicine and the potential trauma of necessitating its use is an additional burden that people with peanut allergy currently face.

“Our findings show that those living with peanut allergy face many uncertainties and restrictions on their daily activities, in addition to constant feelings of frustration, anxiety, stress, isolation, and uncertainty in their everyday lives,” said Audrey DunnGalvin, Ph.D., a lead investigator on the APPEAL-1 study and a lecturer in the School of Applied Psychology at University College Cork in, Ireland. “The findings also reveal the disparity across European countries and an urgent need for greater support, improved management, and education for both peanut-allergic people and the general public to help improve living with and managing peanut allergy.”