[Abridged Article]
An international placebo-controlled study led by Cedars-Sinai suggests that a targeted drug therapy that was developed by researchers at Cedars-Sinai is safe and effective at helping people with moderate to severe ulcerative colitis reach clinical remission.
Results from the multicenter Phase II study, ARTEMIS-UC, were published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Ulcerative colitis is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that damages the digestive tract, causing stomach cramping, diarrhea, weight loss and rectal bleeding. It affects as many as 900,000 people in the U.S., and current treatments are often only minimally effective.
“Findings from this study are poised to have a remarkable impact on treatment for ulcerative colitis and IBD overall,” said study senior author and IBD research pioneer Stephan Targan, MD, the Feintech Family Chair in Inflammatory Bowel Disease and executive director of the F. Widjaja Inflammatory Bowel Disease Institute at Cedars-Sinai. “The investigational therapy was generated based on the concept of precision medicine; it shows promise as being both anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic; it represents a potential turning point in drug development and discovery; and it could change how this complex disease is treated in the future.”
Clinician-scientist and geneticist Dermot McGovern, MD, PhD, director of Translational Research in the F. Widjaja Inflammatory Bowel Disease Institute at Cedars-Sinai and one of the study authors,“Findings from the ARTEMIS-UC study exemplify how combining genetics and biology can transform IBD care,” said McGovern, the Joshua L. and Lisa Z. Greer Chair in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Genetics and the director of Precision Health at Cedars-Sinai.
Targan and McGovern also noted that ARTEMIS-UC involved multiple countries and diverse populations, reflecting the global nature of IBD. The F. Widjaja Inflammatory Bowel Disease Institute has invested significant resources in extending genetic research in IBD to diverse populations.
“It’s taken a village—supported by Cedars-Sinai’s integrated science culture—to reach this point,” said Targan, a 2017 recipient of the Sherman Prize. “We’ve devoted our careers to getting better treatments to IBD patients, and now we’re closer than ever to helping all patients with ulcerative colitis get their disease into remission so they can get back to enjoying life.”
