According to results from a new phase III study, patients with moderate to severely active Crohn’s disease treated with Humira (adalimumab) saw continuing improvements in clinical response and clinical remission.
After 24 weeks, 78% patients who completed Humira open label treatment saw improvement in their disease, as measured by a decrease of more than 70 points from baseline in their Crohn’s disease activity index (CDAI). Of the 220 patients enrolled in the trial, 33% achieved clinical remission, defined as CDAI of less than 150.
“Crohn’s disease is a serious and often disabling illness. The fact that 75% of people with the disease will at some time require surgery indicates the importance of finding treatments that may induce sustained response and remission,” said Dr William Sandborn, of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinic, division of gastroenterology and hepatology, Mayo Clinic and Mayo Medical School.
“These new data are promising because patients not only showed clinically meaningful improvement during the six- month study, but their response continued to improve over time.”
Humira is currently indicated for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, in patients who have had an inadequate response to one or more disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs).