[Efficacy of adalimumab for Crohn's disease in real clinical practice]

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of adalimumab (ADA) in patients with Crohn's disease (CD) treated at the Department of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, Moscow Clinical Research and Practical Center, and to determine the predictors of a therapy response.

All the patients with CD treated with ADA were followed up for at least 6 months or until the drug was discontinued. Therapeutic effectiveness was evaluated at 4 weeks and 6 months after the initiation of treatment and at the end of a follow-up. Complete intestinal mucosal healing was assessed at 3 and 12 months following treatment initiation. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to determine the predictors of treatment response.

A clinical analysis covered 70 patients (57.1% male); the follow-up period averaged 112 weeks. Perianal fistulas were at baseline established in 22 (31.4%) patients with CD. 12 (17.4%) patients had been previously treated with infliximab (INF), 7 of them discontinued the drug for secondary loss of response and 5 for adverse reactions. 68 (97.1%) patients responded to an induction course of ADA. At 4 weeks, 6 months, and at the end of the follow-up, clinical remission occurred in 66.7, 80.4 and 67.4 % of patients with luminal CD and in 45.4, 36.5, and 36.4% of those with perianal CD, respectively. At 3 and 12 months and at the end of the follow-up, there was complete healing of the intestinal mucosa in 23.5, and 41.2 and 29.5% of cases, respectively. Six (8.8%) patients responding to the induction course needed to be optimized with ADA to 40 mg weekly. The time interval between treatment initiation and dose optimization averaged 30 weeks (range 12-120 months). There were 15 (21,4%) adverse events that were responsible for ADA discontinuation in 3 (4,2%) patients.

The findings demonstrate the efficacy and safety of ADA used in clinical practice.