Clinical outcome of adalimumab therapy in patients with ulcerative colitis previously treated with infliximab: a Danish single-center cohort study

OBJECTIVE: TNF inhibitors are effective in the treatment of ulcerative colitis. Adalimumab (ADL), a fully human TNF inhibitor, is increasingly used both as primary anti-TNF agent and in patients switching from another TNF inhibitor due to treatment failure or side effects. This study investigated clinical outcomes of ADL therapy in a clinical setting where infliximab (IFX) had been used as first choice of anti-TNF agent, and followed by ADL as second line agent.

METHODS: Retrospective, observational single-center cohort study including all ulcerative colitis patients treated with ADL at a tertiary Danish inflammatory bowel disease center until 2014. Clinical outcomes were assessed after 12 and 52 weeks and classified according to physician's global evaluation.

RESULTS: The study population comprised 33 patients. Main reasons for switching from IFX to ADL were infusion reactions to IFX (45%) or IFX treatment failure (33%). Short-term efficacy of ADL after 12 weeks revealed 15 patients (45%) with clinical response, and 6 (18%) in clinical remission. Twenty-three patients continued ADL for more than 12 weeks, and at long-term follow-up after 1 year of ADL treatment, eight of these (34%) had clinical response (24% of the entire cohort) and six (26%) were in clinical remission (18% of the entire cohort). A total of five patients (15%) were colectomized mainly due to primary ADL failure (four of five patients).

CONCLUSION: Efficacy of ADL therapy in ulcerative colitis patients previously treated with IFX appears to be modest in clinical practice, and with higher colectomy rates than reported for anti-TNF-naive patients in the registration trials.