- B Mantel, NBC News, 5/5/26: New therapy for hard-to-treat inflammatory bowel disease shows promise:
An excerpt:
Two [randomized controlled] Phase 2b trials enrolled patients with moderate-to-severe disease who had already failed one or more therapeutic classes of drugs…
One trial analyzed 693 patients with Crohn’s disease, while the other analyzed 572 patients with ulcerative colitis…The trials tested an experimental therapy that combined golimumab and guselkumab, which are already in the market…
In the Crohn’s trial, 49.2% of the most treatment-resistant patients who received a high dose of the combination therapy achieved clinical remission after 48 weeks, compared to 27.3% receiving guselkumab and 23.1% taking golimumab…And the safety profile was about the same. The results of the ulcerative colitis trial showed a similar pattern.
- From FirstWord Pharma: Johnson & Johnson Press release: The DDW 2026 “presentations from the DUET-UC and DUET-CD studies…
DUET-CD study
“In the overall population, JNJ-4804a demonstrated higher clinical remissionb rates (50.8%) and endoscopic responsec rates (38.1%) versus golimumab (25.4% for clinical remission, 19.8% for endoscopic response) at Week 48. The JNJ-4804 rates were also numerically higher than the rates achieved with guselkumab (42.5% for clinical remission and 33.9% for endoscopic response).”
DUET-UC study
“In the overall population, JNJ-4804a demonstrated superior clinical remissiond rates compared to golimumab, with 41.0% of JNJ-4804-treated patients achieving clinical remission at Week 48 versus golimumab (11.5%), and numerically higher rates than guselkumab (34.0%).”
“Based on results from the Phase 2b DUET studies, Johnson & Johnson will be initiating the Phase 3 DUET ENCORE-CD trial in adults with moderately to severely active CD as well as the Phase 3 DUET ENCORE-UC trial in adults with moderately to severely active UC.”
My take: In both of these phase 2b trials, the combination therapy was more effective than either guselkumab or golimumab monotherapy. The combination therapy was about 8% and 7% more effective for Crohn’s disease and Ulcerative colitis, respectively, compared to guselkumab monotherapy in terms of clinical remission.
Related blog posts:
- IBD Updates: Dual Advanced Therapies in Pediatrics, IL23 agents/Psoriasis
- Comparative Evidence and Positioning Advance Therapies for Inflammatory Bowel Disease
- ‘Dual Immunotherapy’ for IBD
- Guselkumab for Crohn’s Disease: GALAXI-2 and GALAXI-3: 48-Week Results
- Guselkumab for Crohn’s Disease: Pivotal GRAVITI Study
- Pivotal Study: Guselkumab Efficacy in Ulcerative Colitis (QUASAR study)
- Comprehensive ACG Clinical Guidelines for Ulcerative Coliits (2025)
gutsandgrowth 