Crohn’s & Colitis Congress 2021: The Future of IBD Treatments

Announcer:
Welcome to Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation Perspectives on ReachMD. Here’s your host, Dr. Charles Turck.

Dr. Turck:
Coming to you from the 4th Annual Crohn’s and Colitis Congress, which is begin held virtually, this year, I’m Dr. Charles Turck, with ReachMD. Joining me to discuss highlights from the session, “The Future of IBD Treatments”, is Dr. Siddharth Singh from the University of California, San Diego. Thanks for taking the time to speak with me, Dr. Singh.

Dr. Singh:
Sure, absolutely, it’s a pleasure.

Dr. Turck:
Let’s just jump right in, here, because I’d love to hear about which part of the session really stood out to you?

Dr. Singh:
Yeah, I think we had 4 amazing talks on a couple of different aspects in this session. Dr. Hanauer talked about the future emerging therapies and the near-term and that was an exciting session with all the different mechanisms of action that we have available. Dr. Costello talked about their microbiome therapies and how that could shape how we approach treatment to IBD. Dr. Dubinsky, as always very pertinent to talk on some of the key takeaways in how we can optimize our current therapies. And Dr. Colombel pushing us into the future of treatments and how we can actually overcome the treatment plateau in IBD.

Dr. Turck:
Would you share some of the highlights of some of the emerging therapies and microbiome treatments that were presented?

Dr. Singh:
Yeah, I think the different mechanisms that we have coming on seems very exciting. Perhaps the one that is closest to approval is Ozanimod, which is, which is an S1P agonist it’s an oral therapy and it seems to be very promising in ulcerative colitis. Of course, this selective JAK inhibitors are also pretty close behind and they offer some hope with potential safety advantages and potentially an efficacy advantage by being able to push the dose. For the microbiome therapies, Dr. Costello shared some of the exciting clinical trial data that is already being published for induction of remission and he also shared an exciting, trial of maintenance therapy which suggested high rates of durable remission, and then we talked about how the combination of medications with microbiome therapy can potentially harvest the best of both worlds and help us achieve durable remission.

Dr. Turck:
And based on what was presented, what are some of the ways that clinicians might get the most out of IBD treatments that are presently-available?

Dr. Singh:
Yeah, I think one of the important steps was re-stratification and early initiation of therapy. All our medications work best if started early so if you can identify the people who are more likely to get in trouble, and Dr. Dubinsky shared some exciting tools for that and intervene early then it could be significant long-lasting modification of the natural history of the disease. We also talked about, treat-to-target about selecting the appropriate targets for a patient and then pushing your medications to try to achieve those targets and during the process, maintaining tight control, not just patient’s symptoms, but at the simultaneously trying to achieve biochemical and endoscopic remission, to again, achieve that durable remission.

Dr. Turck:
And before we wrap up, Dr. Singh, based on the session we’ve been discussing what advice would you give a clinician to help them apply what was presented about optimizing IBD therapy into practice?

Dr. Singh:
For optimization, I think one of the key steps is being focused on what target you’re trying to achieve and putting that in conjunction with your discussion with your patients and then systematically approaching that and revisiting those targets at each visit, making the most of your existing medications with either optimization of combination therapy or using therapeutic drug monitoring to optimize your index biologic therapy.

Dr. Turck:
Well, these are just some of the helpful insights gleamed on the future of IBD treatments during the 2021 Crohn’s and Colitis Congress. I’m Dr. Charles Turck and I’d like to thank Dr. Siddharth Singh for reviewing those with our audience today. And thank you for joining us.

Announcer:
This episode was brought to you in collaboration with the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation and the American Gastroenterological Association. To learn more about the Crohn's & Colitis Congress, please visit crohnscolitiscongress.org. Thanks for listening!