Early biologic therapy reshapes Crohn's outcomes as predictive biomarkers fall short.Crohn's disease is an increasingly prevalent but poorly understood condition. Data suggest that in the U.K. alone, 1 in 350 people have the disease and around 10,000 new cases are diagnosed each year, many of them young people. Treatment pathways traditionally take a bottom-up approach, starting with the steroids and moving up the 'therapeutic pyramid' through immunomodulators and then biologics such as infliximab and adalimumab. Nevertheless, a groundbreaking study in the U.K. by researchers at Cambridge University and NHS Trusts suggests that going for the stronger treatments early post-diagnosis might better control inflammation and, in the long run, be more cost-effective and yield better patient outcomes. Jim Banks investigates the pros and cons of changing the therapeutic pathway for a condition that keeps creating one conundrum after another.
Jim Banks (Tue,) studied this question.