Anergis, a company developing proprietary ultra-fast allergy vaccines, has  started a phase II trial designed to finalise the dose selection for the phase III study of AllerT. AllerT is Anergis´ lead vaccine against birch pollen allergy that originated from the company´s proprietary Contiguous Overlapping Peptide (COP) platform. COPs are pharmaceutical-grade, long-peptide immunotherapeutics designed for an ultra-fast, safe and long-lasting treatment of allergy patients.

The randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, 4-parallel-group trial will assess the dose response efficacy of AllerT across doses of 50 µg, 25 µg, 10 µg compared to a placebo in an environmental exposure chamber (EEC). Approximately 180 birch pollen allergy patients will receive 5 subcutaneous injections over 2 months. All enrolled patients will be challenged with birch pollen prior to receiving AllerT or the placebo, and 4 weeks after the last injection.

The primary endpoint is the change in Total Rhinoconjunctivitis Symptom Scores (TRSS) from the baseline EEC challenge to the post-treatment EEC challenge. Secondary endpoints are the mean Total Nasal Symptom Scores (TNSS), Total Ocular Symptom Score (TOSS), Individual Nasal Symptom Scores (NSS) and Asthma Symptom Score (ASS), which will also be evaluated from the baseline EEC challenge to the post-treatment EEC challenge. The trial is being conducted in Canada, with results expected in the third quarter of 2015.

"In our previous field-based phase II trials, we have seen that AllerT was similarly efficacious at 100 µg and 50 µg doses," said Vincent Charlon, chief executive officer of Anergis. "We therefore decided to further investigate the dose response of AllerT prior to launching the phase III study."