Promising Results for Upadacitinib in Inducing and Maintaining Remission in Crohn’s Disease Patients
In two phase III induction trials (U-EXCEL and U-EXCEED), researchers studied the efficacy of upadacitinib, an oral Janus kinase inhibitor, in patients with moderate-to-severe Crohn’s disease. A total of 1,021 patients were randomly assigned to receive either 45 mg of upadacitinib or a placebo for a duration of 12 weeks. Out of these patients, 502 showed a clinical response to upadacitinib induction therapy and were then enrolled in a maintenance trial (U-ENDURE). During the induction phase, patients who received 45 mg of upadacitinib experienced significantly higher rates of clinical remission and endoscopic response compared to those who received the placebo (P 0.001 for all comparisons in both trials). This suggests that upadacitinib is effective in inducing remission in patients with Crohn’s disease.