Study offers new treatment option for some Crohn’s patients

Dr. Brian Feagan, the Director of Robarts Clinical Trials is one of the authors of a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine investigating the efficacy of a drug called Ustekinumab. The study, led by Dr. William Sandborn of the University of California San Diego, involved 526 patients with moderate-to-severe Crohn's disease, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease.

"The introduction of biologic drugs, such as infliximab, has been the most important advance in the treatment of Crohn's disease over the past two decades. However, a substantial proportion of patients who receive these drugs lose response," says Dr. Feagan, a professor in the Departments of Medicine, and Epidemiology and Biostatistics. "In this study Ustekinumab recaptured response and improved the wellbeing of these difficult-to-treat patients."

Ustekinumab is currently approved for moderately-to-severely active plaque psoriasis. The 36-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial involved patients from 12 countries, and ran from October 2008 and December 2010.