P Veyard et al. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol 2023; 21: 1354-1355. Efficacy of Induction Therapy With Calcineurin Inhibitors in Combination With Ustekinumab for Acute Severe Ulcerative Colitis

This small retrospective study with 10 adults examined the efficacy of using a calcineurin inhibitor (cyclosporin (n=9) or tacrolimus (n=1)) as a bridge therapy for long-term ustekinumab treatment. Most patients had failed infliximab (90%) and vedolizumab (80%). Patients received an induction of ustekinumab (6 mg/kg) followed by every 8 week treatment. Calcineurin inhibitor use was used for a median of 45 days.

Key finding:

• None of the patients underwent a colectomy at 6 months
• One patient remained on steroids at 6 monhts and one patient failed to obtain a clinical response or remission

My take (borrowed from authors): This small retrospective study shows that bridging therapy with a calcineurin inhibitor followed by maintenance therapy with ustekinumab is feasible. Bridging therapy has also been used for vedolizumab (Pellet et al. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol 2019; 17: 494-501; Ollech et al. Aliment Pharmacol Ther 2020; 51; 637-643)

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In Tucson, we stayed adjacent to a bunch of animals that we fed each morning.

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