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Upadacitinib Shows Efficacy in Refractory Crohn's Disease - Medscape
This study reports that upadacitinib produced clinical responses and steroid-free remission in a majority of patients with refractory Crohn's disease at 12 weeks, which may be relevant for people who have not responded to biologics. It also notes benefit for extraintestinal symptoms and documents adverse events.
Adults with refractory Crohn's disease, patients who have failed biologics, gastroenterologists considering JAK inhibitor therapy, and researchers tracking real-world effectiveness and safety.
What To Know
Upadacitinib induction therapy (45 mg daily for 12 weeks) was reported in a French retrospective cohort of 223 patients with refractory luminal Crohn's disease who had prior exposure to at least one biologic.
At 12 weeks the study found 54.3% achieved steroid-free clinical remission, 65.5% had a clinical response, and 56.3% achieved clinical remission; many patients with extraintestinal manifestations also improved. Adverse events occurred in 58 patients (65 events total), including 17 serious events and acne in about 10.8%.
This report comes from a retrospective real-world study and was published in Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics; Medscape summarizes the results. The authors note limitations including retrospective design, nonstandardized clinical assessments, and only 12 weeks of follow-up.
The findings align with other literature but do not establish long-term safety or durability of response.
If you are reading this because of active or refractory Crohn's disease, these results suggest upadacitinib may produce clinical responses and steroid-sparing effects in a real-world cohort, but treatment decisions should be made with your gastroenterologist and consider individual risks and prior therapies.
This is a retrospective, short (12-week) real-world study with potential bias and nonstandardized assessments; it shows early effectiveness signals but does not replace randomized controlled trial evidence or inform long-term safety. Medscape summarized a study published in a peer-reviewed journal; read the original paper for full methods and data.
