Crohn’s disease: a drug against psoriasis authorized in England to live better with

This is news that may be of interest to the 120,000 French people who live daily with Crohn’s disease, an incurable inflammatory condition of the digestive system. Risankizumab, a treatment for psoriasis, is approved by the NHS for its action which targets the immune cells responsible for the severe intestinal damage caused by Crohn’s disease. Its effectiveness could also avoid surgery for patients, and therefore improve their quality of life. According to Dr Mark Samaan, consultant gastroenterologist at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, many patients with Crohn’s disease who do not find a favorable response in current treatments could benefit from risankizumab, which moreover, does not does not cause intense side effects.

Crohn’s disease is therefore an inflammatory condition of the digestive system which is characterized by hyperactivity of the immune system which ultimately damages the healthy tissues of the intestine. Sufferers are usually treated with steroids or immunosuppressants that control flare-ups of the disease, but come with unwanted side effects.

Biologics, human antibodies produced by cultured cells including risankizumab, have revolutionized the treatment of Crohn’s disease by targeting the proteins responsible for inflammation.

Risankizumab, originally used to treat psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, works by blocking interleukin-23, a protein involved in inflammation in Crohn’s disease. Its injection keeps symptoms under control and avoids the need for surgery, the DailyMail said.

In fact, the media announces that according to the latest clinical trials on the subject, nearly half of the patients treated with risankizumab went into remission after three monthly infusions. About half of these patients remained in remission after one year of treatment… All with very few side effects.

A treatment soon to be reimbursed in France?

Contacted on the subject, Professor Xavier Roblin, gastroenterologist and hepatologist, confirms the interest of risankizumab in this phase 3. “In each phase, whether in remission or maintenance, risankizumab performed better than placebo in patients who were nevertheless very refractory, because they had been held in check in many treatments before.” As to whether thanks to these good results, risankizumab will soon be reimbursed, the professor brings a nuance. “UAnother head-to-head study is comparing risankizumab with utsekinumab, another biotherapy. In skin studies, dermatologists have already shown that risankizumab does better in psoriasis. The study must now show the superiority of risankizumab in the middle and at the end of treatment. If risankizumab is better, it will be used as a second line. If it does the same as utsekinumab, it will only be reimbursed in 3rd line” he explains to us.

Combining biotherapies, a new avenue of research in Crohn’s disease

One thing is certain, this treatment gives hope to patients with Crohn’s disease and should also be joined in the future by other alternatives. “The track studied today is based on the association of biotherapies. It was long thought that a single molecule would change history, but we are seeing people relapse. The idea is therefore to combine several biotherapies, to obtain duo-therapies, or tri-therapies, to hit hard, put the patient in deep remission and then lighten the treatment afterwards. The other possibility in progress is to work on the sequence. That is to say, to see if the molecule A before the B leads to the same thing as the B before the A. Which is the best molecule, and in the event that it does not work, which is the second molecule to do? come into play that would not negatively impact the first. These are the two tracks of tomorrow.”