Categories
Change Password!
Reset Password!
Upadacitinib shows high real-world remission rates in moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis, including in patients previously treated with tofacitinib.
A major real-world breakthrough in the treatment of moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis (UC) has emerged from a multicenter Australian study showing that upadacitinib, a next-generation selective Janus kinase 1 (JAK1) inhibitor, achieves rapid and deep remission even in patients who previously failed or discontinued tofacitinib therapy.
Robert Gilmore and other colleagues conducted this retrospective, multicentre analysis of 152 patients across 13 inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) centres in Australia who began upadacitinib between September 2022 and March 2023. Transmural healing (an indicator for deeper and more durable remission) was examined using intestinal ultrasound.
Key findings
Although patients previously treated with tofacitinib exhibited slightly slower response rates early in induction, remission levels equalized by week 16, suggesting upadacitinib’s strong potential even in biologically complex or treatment-resistant cases. Despite these strengths, the authors acknowledge important limitations including the retrospective design, absence of a parallel control group, a relatively short follow-up preventing firm conclusions about long-term maintenance durability, and limited ability to detect rare adverse events such as venous thrombosis or malignancy.
Overall, this real-world evidence considerably strengthens the positioning of upadacitinib as a highly valuable and well-tolerated therapeutic option in the evolving treatment landscape of UC and supports future precision-medicine strategies that emphasize early, deep remission using noninvasive monitoring tools.
Intestinal Research
Upadacitinib after tofacitinib in ulcerative colitis
Hyeon Jin Cho et al.
Comments (0)