Pooled efficacy and safety data for house dust mite sublingual immunotherapy tablets in adolescents

Background: House dust mite (HDM) respiratory allergy is a common and burdensome disease in children and adolescents. There are few HDM allergy immunotherapy trials in children with perennial allergic rhinitis. This post hoc analysis used pooled data to evaluate efficacy and safety of the SQ HDM sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) tablet in adolescents (12-17 years). Methods: In two double-blind, placebo-controlled trials conducted in North America and Japan, respectively, subjects aged 12+ years with HDM allergic rhinitis were randomized to up to 1 year of treatment. The primary end-point in both trials was the average total combined rhinitis score (TCRS) during the last 8 weeks of treatment in the active group compared with placebo. Data from subjects aged 12-17 years were pooled (N= 395). Results: In the pooled adolescent subpopulation, average TCRS improved 22% with 12 SQ HDM vs placebo (absolute treatment difference of 1.04; P<. 01). Rhinitis daily symptom score (DSS), conjunctivitis DSS and rhinitis daily medication score (DMS) were also significantly improved vs placebo in the pooled adolescent subpopulation (all P<. 05). There were no new safety signals for adolescents. The frequency of adverse events was similar in adolescents and adults with the majority being mild application site-related events. Conclusions: Treatment with 12 SQ HDM appears to be effective and well tolerated in adolescents with HDM allergic rhinitis.