Cure8 research brief
This study suggests that patients with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis who start ustekinumab may use fewer non-drug healthcare resources and incur lower non-medication costs over time, which could matter for patients, clinicians, and payers evaluating treatment impact beyond drug costs.
Adult patients with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis considering or receiving ustekinumab; clinicians managing biologic therapy choices; health services researchers and payers interested in real-world HCRU and cost outcomes.
This was a retrospective cohort study using patients identified from the Johnson & Johnson BIOADVANCE® support program linked to provincial health databases (ICES).
The analysis compared healthcare resource use and non-medication costs in the year before UST start versus each year after starting therapy, reporting results for patients who remained persistent on UST and subgroup analyses by prior biologic experience.
Study cohort and main signals The cohort included 2279 people with Crohn’s disease and 626 with ulcerative colitis who started UST between 2017 and 2022.
The authors report significant reductions in all-cause and IBD-specific healthcare utilization events and lower non-medication costs in post-initiation years; statistical significance was noted for multiple years in CD and for Year 2 in UC.
How to interpret this These results describe real-world associations between starting UST and lower downstream non-medication healthcare use and costs. The study is observational and based on administrative data, so it cannot prove that UST caused the reductions; persistence on therapy and prior biologic exposure were important subgroup factors.
this is a retrospective administrative-database study linking a manufacturer patient-support program to provincial claims data. It reports associations (not causal effects), excludes medication costs, and focuses on patients identified through the BIOADVANCE program in Ontario, Canada; results may not generalize to other settings.
Review the original publication for the complete reporting, methods, and context.
This Cure8 brief is based on source text from the linked article. Cure8 is informational only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
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