In a recent study published in The New England Journal of Medicine , researchers discuss the results of a randomized clinical trial (RCT) comparing the therapeutic efficacy of risakizumab and ustekinumab for the treatment of moderate-to-severe Crohn’s disease. Study: Risankizumab versus Ustekinumab for Moderate-to-Severe Crohn’s Disease. Image Credit: vitstudio / Shutterstock.
com Current treatment options for Crohn’s disease Crohn’s disease is a type of chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that can affect any part of the human digestive tract. Oral administration of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors is the first line of treatment for moderate-to-severe Crohn’s disease; however, TNF inhibitors are associated with a wide range of adverse side-effects, with some patients also exhibiting an inadequate response to TNF inhibitors. Thus, there remains an urgent need to develop alternative biologic agents with different modes of actions to treat this debilitating disease.
Interleukin-23 (IL-23) is a proinflammatory cytokine comprising a p40 subunit shared with IL-12 and a unique p19 subunit that plays a key role in skin, joint, and gastrointestinal inflammation. Ustekinumab and risankizumab are humanized monoclonal antibodies that selectively bind to p40 and p19 subunits, respectively. Previous clinical trials have indicated the therapeutic efficacy of these antibodies against plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and Crohn’s disease.
In the current study, resea.