Adalimumab for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease

Abstract

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic, disabling condition with increasing prevalence throughout the world. Although the etiology of IBD is not well understood, it is characterized by a disproportionate inflammatory response in the gut that leads to tissue damage and clinical symptoms. Over the past decade, the development of biologic therapies that target the proinflammatory cytokine TNF-α in the inflammatory cascade has markedly revolutionized the treatment of IBD. Adalimumab, one of the three available anti-TNF agents, has been shown to effectively induce and maintain remission in patients with Crohn’s disease. More recently, data has been published demonstrating the efficacy of adalimumab in patients with ulcerative colitis.

Keywords::

• adalimumab
• Crohn’s disease
• ulcerative colitis

Financial & competing interests disclosure

Sunanda Kane has served as a consultant to Abbott Laboratories, Elan Pharmaceuticals and UCB. She has received research funding from Elan and Shire Pharmaceuticals. 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.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Notes

Taken from [24].