Pharmacokinetic drug evaluation of budesonide in the treatment of Crohn’s disease

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Crohn’s disease (CD) is a chronic inflammatory disorder that commonly affects the terminal ileum and proximal colon. Although systemic corticosteroids such as prednisone and methylprednisolone are widely used for treatment of CD, these agents have a high incidence of adverse drug reactions due to off-target effects. Budesonide is a locally acting corticosteroid with enhanced formulation properties that offer a superior therapeutic index in comparison to conventional members of the class.

Areas covered: This review focuses on budesonide for the treatment of CD. The pharmacological and pharmacokinetics of the drug are summarized, along with clinical efficacy and safety data. We also indicate the role of budesonide in therapeutic algorithms.

Expert opinion: Budesonide has an important role as an induction therapy in patients with mild to moderately active CD of the ileum and proximal colon. The most distinctive advantage of budesonide over conventional corticosteroids is a substantially reduced risk of corticosteroid-related side effects.

KEYWORDS:

• Budesonide
• corticosteroid
• Crohn’s disease
• side-effects
• therapy

Declaration of interest

B Feagan has received grant/research support from AbbVie Inc., Amgen Inc., AstraZeneca/MedImmune Ltd., Atlantic Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Boehringer-Ingelheim, Celgene Corporation, Celltech, Genentech Inc/Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Gilead Sciences Inc., GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Janssen Research & Development LLC., Pfizer Inc., Receptos Inc. /Celgene International, Sanofi, Santarus Inc., Takeda Development Center Americas Inc., Tillotts Pharma AG, UCB. He has acted as a consultant for Abbott/AbbVie, Actogenix, Akros, Albireo Pharma, Allergan, Amgen, Astra Zeneca, Atlantic Pharma, Avaxia Biologics Inc., Avir Pharma, Baxter Healthcare Corp., Biogen Idec, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Calypso Biotech, Celgene, Elan/Biogen, EnGene, Ferring Pharma, Roche/Genentech, Galapagos, GiCare Pharma, Gilead, Given Imaging Inc., GSK, Inception IBD Inc, Ironwood Pharma, Janssen Biotech (Centocor), JnJ/Janssen, Kyowa Kakko Kirin Co Ltd., Lexicon, Lilly, Lycera BioTech, Merck, Mesoblast Pharma, Millennium, Nektar, Nestles, Novonordisk, Pfizer, Prometheus Therapeutics and Diagnostics, Protagonist, Receptos, Roche/Genentech, Salix Pharma, Serono, Shire, Sigmoid Pharma, Synergy Pharma Inc., Takeda, Teva Pharma, TiGenix, Tillotts, UCB Pharma, Vertex Pharma, Vivelix Pharma, VHsquared Ltd., Warner-Chilcott, Wyeth, Zealand, Zyngenia. He has worked as a speaker for Abbott/AbbVie, JnJ/Janssen, Takeda, UCB Pharma, has been a member of the scientific advisory board for Abbott/AbbVie, Allergan, Amgen, Astra Zeneca, Atlantic Pharma, Avaxia Biologics Inc., Boehringer-Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Celgene, Centocor Inc., Elan/Biogen, Ferring, Galapagos, Genentech/Roche, JnJ/Janssen, Merck, Nestles, Novartis, Novonordisk, Pfizer, Prometheus Laboratories, Protagonist, Salix Pharma, Takeda, Teva, TiGenix, Tillotts Pharma AG, UCB Pharma and is a member of the board of directors as an officer for Robarts Clinical Trials Inc, Western University, London.

Vipul Jairath has received scientific advisory board fees from AbbVie, Janssen, Takeda, Sandoz; and speaker’s fees from Takeda, Janssen, Ferring and Reena Khanna has received consulting fees from AbbVie, Janssen, Takeda, Pfizer, and Shire. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded