Early vedolizumab therapy prompts lower surgical rates in patients with Crohn’s Disease

Vedolizumab when used as an early therapy proved to be effective in decreasing the rates of surgery in Crohn’s disease (CD) patients, a study in Journal of Crohn's and Colitis illustrated.

The study authors considered CD patients with a disease duration of ≤2 or ≤5 years to investigate the probability of CD surgery (colectomy or bowel resection) after using Vedolizumab as an early treatment option.

The post hoc analysis of 1253 patients on vedolizumab in the studies- GEMINI 2, GEMINI 3, and GEMINI LTS evaluated CD-associated surgery as per likelihood of either lower intermediate or; high response to this monoclonal antibody medicine. A clinical decision support tool was used for analysis.

Overall, 113 (9.0%) needed CD-related surgery. The probability of surgical rates is as follows:

As compared to low or intermediate probability of response, a lower surgery risk was perceived for patients with a high probability. A steady trend for correlation between timelier therapy [≤2 or ≤5 years from the time when diagnosed] and a lower risk of surgery relative to later treatment was observed for patients with a low or intermediate probability of vedolizumab response.

An early treatment may be effective in the prevention of long-term CD issues and thus, increase quality of life.