Abbott says Humira study shows "promising" results in Crohn's disease

New York, Oct. 31 - Abbott reported data showing that treatment with Humira (adalimumab) helped patients with Crohn's disease.

An analysis of 55 patients with moderate to severely active Crohn's disease who achieved clinical remission through treatment with the drug showed 74% maintained clinical remission through continued treatment with Humira every other week for a year compared to 44% with a placebo. With dosing every week, 83% of patients had remission for a year compared to 44% with a placebo.

The results came from a phase III extension study being presented this week at the American College of Gastroenterology annual meeting.

Patients in the study had lready completed a four-week trial designed to study the efficacy and safety of Humira. Depending on the remission at the beginning and after four weeks, patients were assigned to either a randomized or an open-label group.

"There is no cure for Crohn's disease and the immediate goal of treatment is to suppress the inflammatory response in order to allow intestinal tissue to heal. The next critical step is maintaining clinical remission, thereby preventing disease flares that may disrupt patients' lives," said William J. Sandborn of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinic, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Mayo Clinic and Mayo Medical School in Rochester, Minn., in a news release. "The new adalimumab (Humira) data is promising for the hundreds of thousands of patients suffering from moderate to severe Crohn's disease."

Abbott is an Abbott Park, Ill., company working on treatments for immunologic diseases.

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