Peanut Allergy: Asia Pacific Clinical Trial Landscape

Peanut allergy is one of the most prevalent food allergies as well as the leading cause of catastrophic food reactions and anaphylaxis. (1) Even trace amounts of peanuts can cause severe, sometimes fatal reactions in some people with a peanut allergy. There has been an increase in childhood peanut allergy cases in the US. Even if a child has just had a small allergic reaction to peanuts, there is still a chance that a future reaction will be more severe. (2) There are differences between the common food allergies in Asia and the West. In the UK, and the US, children under the age of five are most affected by peanut allergy; but the rest of Asia except Australia and Japan rarely ever experience this condition. (3) The Asian way of boiling and frying peanuts reduces allergenicity, which is the main cause of the Asian population’s lower infection rate. (4) In Figure 1, an epidemiological study conducted in the US, Canada, and Mexico of the pediatric population showed that peanut was the most frequent trigger, among all the other allergies. Hence, it is anticipated that peanuts consumption could be the most frequent cause of all food allergies globally. (5)