How Do Kids Get Into a Food Allergy Clinical Trial?

There have been a lot of exciting food allergy clinical trial news that have been shared as a result of the AAAAI 2015 conference underway right now and there hasn’t been this much excitement about food allergy research in many years. A natural question that arises is “How do I sign up to participate in a clinical trial?”

A fast and easy answer is talk with your allergist and ask him or her to help you.

My son has been in the VIPES/OLFUS peanut patch study sponsored by DBV for the past two years at  Stanford. My understanding is that phase III clinical trials for the peanut patch as well as for the milk patch will be at the same locations as current studies. I don’t know if they would add additional sites but that is something that your allergist can help you find out. A quick search on ClinicalTrials.gov, which is a registry and results database of publicly and privately supported clinical studies of human participants conducted around the world, gave me a list of the following participating centers in the United States (if you are outside of the US, visit the VIPES page for a full list of sites in Canada and Europe). (see update at the bottom of this post)

• University of California, Rady Childrens Hospital, San Diego, California, United States, 92123
• Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, United States, 94305
• Children’s Memorial Hospital. Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60614
• Boston Childrens’ Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02115
• Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02114
• Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, 45229
• Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 19104
• Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, 15213
• Children’s Medical Center Dallas, Dallas, Texas, United States, 75235
• ASTHMA, Inc., Seattle, Washington, United States, 98115

There is also another ongoing peanut patch study happening in the United States sponsored by NIAID with collaborators from the Consortium of Food Allergy Research at the following locations:

• Arkansas Children’s Hospital, Little Rock, Arkansas, United States, 72202
• National Jewish Health, Denver, Colorado, United States, 80206
• The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, 21287
• Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, United States, 10029
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States, 27599

Chances are the locations mentioned above also have many other food allergy trials including oral immunotherapy (OIT), sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT), etc.. so you and your allergist can get in touch with the nearest center for more information regarding which trials are recruiting, getting on a wait list for a future trial, etc..

We all want out of this food allergic condition, we all want a cure, and participating in a trial is one way to help each other, future generations, and possibly even ourselves. A few months ago, Dr. Nadeau’s team at Stanford (formerly known as SAFAR, now Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy Research) had a lot of trial openings and I had shared about what it’s like to consider participating in a trial. I hope that it will encourage you to be active and engaged in the process of food allergy research, either as a participant, donor, or supporter. Thank you to all the brave people who participate in trials and to the tireless and brilliant researchers. Best wishes to all!

UPDATE: PEPTITES study notes are posted on ClinicalTrials.gov as of January 16. 

Disclosure/disclaimer: My son is in a peanut patch trial at Stanford, sponsored by DBV. All opinions are mine and are unsolicited. Please consult with your medical care team for advice regarding the risks, potential benefits, and responsibilities of participating in a clinical trial.

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