"Ulcerative Colitis: Biologic Horizons Widen" - Nancy Walsh
Evidence continues to grow supporting the use of a widening array of biologics for the chronic inflammatory gut disease ulcerative colitis, providing new options for patients with refractory disease that does not respond to conventional therapies such as aminosalicylates, corticosteroids, and thiopurines or with tumor necrosis factor inhibitors according to researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. According to Bruce Sands, MD, chief of the division of gastroenterology for the Mount Sinai Health System, in the induction phase of a phase III trial known as UNIFI, patients who received a single infusion of either 130 mg or 6 mg/kg of ustekinumab (Stelara) had significantly greater rates of clinical remission at week eight than those given an infusion of placebo. He added, “And in a phase IIIb trial known as VARSITY, a head-to-head trial comparing vedolizumab with adalimumab, clinical remission was seen in a significantly greater number of patients receiving vedolizumab which was a difference of 8.8 percentage points.
— Bruce E. Sands, MD, Professor, Medicine, Gastroenterology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Chief, Division of Gastroenterology, Mount Sinai Health System
