Biologic Therapy for Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Real-World Comparative Effectiveness and Impact of Drug Sequencing...

This study compares the effectiveness of different biologic therapies and sequences in patients with inflammatory bowel disease [IBD] using real-world data from a large cohort with long exposure.

Demographic, disease, treatment, and outcome data were retrieved for patients in the UK IBD BioResource. Effectiveness of treatment was based on persistence free of discontinuation or failure, analysed by Kaplan-Meier survival analysis with inverse probability of treatment weighting to adjust for differences between groups.

In total, 13 222 evaluable patients received at least one biologic. In ulcerative colitis [UC] first-line vedolizumab [VDZ] demonstrated superior effectiveness over 5 years compared to anti-tumour necrosis factor [anti-TNF] agents [p = 0.006]. VDZ was superior to both infliximab [IFX] and adalimumab [ADA] after ADA and IFX failure respectively [p < 0.001 and p < 0.001]. Anti-TNF therapy showed similar effectiveness when used as first-line treatment, or after failure of VDZ. In Crohn's disease [CD] we found significant differences between first-line treatments over 10 years [p = 0.045], with superior effectiveness of IFX compared to ADA in perianal CD. Non-anti-TNF biologics were superior to a second anti-TNF after first-line anti-TNF failure in CD [p = 0.035]. Patients with UC or CD experiencing TNF failure due to delayed loss of response or intolerance had superior outcomes when switching to a non-anti-TNF biologic, rather than a second anti-TNF.

We provide real-world evidence to guide biologic selection and sequencing in a range of common scenarios. Our findings challenge current guidelines regarding drug selection after loss of response to first anti-TNF treatment.