US Gastroenterologists Increasingly Employ a Top-Down Treatment Approach for Moderate to Severe Crohn's Disease, Citing Earlier and More Aggressive Use of Biologics as Most Prevalent Change in Their Crohn's Disease Treatment Over the Past Year

EXTON, Penn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

In a recent TreatmentTrends® study with US gastroenterologists, BioTrends Research Group, LLC finds that the use of anti-TNF biologic agents in the treatment of Crohn's Disease (CD) has increased over the past six months and is projected to continue increasing over the next six months, primarily due to earlier more aggressive use of biologic agents, employing a top-down approach in treatment, as well as physician comfort and familiarity with biologic agents.

Centocor Ortho Biotech/Merck/Mitsubishi Tanabe's Remicade is used significantly more than any other approved biologic agent, across all patient severity types, for the treatment of CD; followed by Abbott / Eisai's Humira, UCB's Cimzia, and finally Elan Biogen Idec's Tysabri, which accounts for less than 1% of total share. However, adverse events / tolerability, patients currently well managed on existing treatment, and access related issues, such as out of pocket costs and managed care, are noted as major obstacles to increased use of biologics to treat CD.

More than two-thirds of surveyed gastroenterologists feel that there is a high unmet need for new agents to treat CD, second only to the need for new therapies for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). Less than 25% of respondents report that they are satisfied with the currently available treatment options; while only one-third of respondents are satisfied with available diagnostic tools for distinguishing CD from Ulcerative Colitis in their IBD patients. For new agents, gastroenterologists would like to see treatment options with better efficacy, no long term side effects and with steroid sparing effects. Though gastroenterologists were most familiar with Janssen Biotech / Janssen Cilag's Stelara (Ustekinumab) and Millennium Pharmaceutical's Vedolizumab (MLN0002), nearly half of the respondents believed that GlaxoSmithKline / ChemoCentryx's GSK-1605786 will bring the most value to their practice, largely because of its oral administration and mechanism of action.

TreatmentTrends®: Crohn's Disease is an annual syndicated report series that provides a comprehensive view of the current and expected future management of CD. The survey was fielded in February 2012 with 104 gastroenterologists. TreatmentTrends®: Crohn's Disease covers the use of treatment approaches and pharmacotherapy agents for the treatment of CD, as well as attitudes and perceptions toward these products, advantages and disadvantages of current agents, expected future use and awareness of products in late stage development. Special focus is placed on the use of biologic agents to treat CD.

Actual treatment patterns of Crohn's Disease patients will be further explored in BioTrends' 2012 Crohn's Disease reports: PatientTrends®: Crohn's Disease and ChartTrends®: Crohn's Disease

About BioTrends Research Group, LLC

BioTrends Research Group, LLC provides syndicated and custom market research to pharmaceutical manufacturers competing in clinically evolving, specialty pharmaceutical markets. For information on BioTrends publications and research capabilities, please contact us at (610) 321-9400 or www.bio-trends.com.

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