Antibody May Reduce Healthcare Costs for Crohn's Patients

BETHESDA, Md. — Crohn’s disease (CD) patients treated with adalimumab have lower 1-year risks of hospitalization and surgery, reported a new study in Gastroenterology.

Adalimumab is an anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) monoclonal antibody, of human origin, effective for inducing and maintaining clinical response and remission in patients with moderate to severe CD. It is approved for the treatment of CD in North America and Europe.

All data used in these analyses were collected during the Crohn’s Trial of the Fully Human Antibody Adalimumab for Remission Maintenance (CHARM) trial, a multi-center, Phase III, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study. This analysis was the first to examine the effect of adalimumab maintenance treatment on both all-cause and CD-related hospitalizations. Of the 778 patients randomized, 260 were assigned to adalimumab every other week, 257 were assigned to adalimumab weekly and 261 received placebo.

Both 3- and 12-month hospitalization risks were significantly lower for patients who received adalimumab. In addition, adalimumab every other week and weekly maintenance therapies were associated with 52 percent and 60 percent relative reductions in 12-month, all-cause hospitalization risk, and 48 percent and 64 percent reductions in 12-month risk of CD-related hospitalization.

The combined adalimumab group was associated with 56 percent reductions in both all-cause and CD-related hospitalization risks. Fewer CD-related surgeries occurred in the adalimumab every other week, weekly and combined groups compared with placebo (0.4, 0.8 and 0.6 versus 3.8 per 100 patients, all p<0.05).