How Biologic Therapy Can Help Mitigate COVID-Related Complications In Patients With IBD
New data from Digestive Disease Week furthers evidence that biologics can be effective
The use of biologics continues to rapidly increase all around the world, and that trend does not appear to be stopping anytime soon. According to BioSpace1, a “rise in prevalence of cancer and other target diseases across the globe is the key factor to accelerate the market growth during forecast period across all regions,” referring specifically to the next 5 years.
The FDA, in regard to biologics, says “in contrast to most drugs that are chemically synthesized and their structure is known, most biologics are complex mixtures that are not easily identified or characterized.2”
New research presented at Digestive Disease Week in Chicago examined how patients with IBD reacted to biologics, and if the biologics could help prevent COVID-19 related complications to those patients’ Inflammatory Bowel Disease, which “is a term that describes disorders involving long-standing (chronic) inflammation of tissues in your digestive tract,” including Ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, according to the Mayo Clinic.3
The data was taken from 75 health care organizations, and studied over 285,000 individuals, all of which have an IBD diagnosis and 40% of which had COVID-19 with “increasing rate of infection at the start of the pandemic and a decline after COVID vaccine initiation in 2021.”
Researchers concluded that COVID-19 did increase the risk of all studied outcomes—including mortality, acute kidney injury patients’ with IBD, and requiring mechanical ventilation—in patients with IBD. This aligns with other data regarding how individuals with underlying health conditions are more likely to experience more intense COVID-19 symptoms, and how COVID can catalyze those comorbidities.
“These data further support continuing biologics in most patients with IBD and COVID,” the researchers condluded.4
References
1. Biologics Market Growth 2022-2028: Increasing Number of Product Launches and Pipeline Products Are Primary Factors Driving Growth. Biospace. May 27, 2022. Accessed May 5, 2023. https://www.biospace.com/article/biologics-market-growth-2022-2028-increasing-number-of-product-launches-and-pipeline-products-are-primary-factors-driving-growth/#:~:text=Biologics%20market%20is%20growing%20at,forecast%20period%20across%20all%20regions.
2. What Are "Biologics" Questions and Answers. FDA. February 6, 2018. Accessed on May 5, 2023. https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/center-biologics-evaluation-and-research-cber/what-are-biologics-questions-and-answers
3. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Mayo Clinic. Accessed May 10, 2023. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/inflammatory-bowel-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20353315
4. Nanah R, Almasri J, Eltelbany A, et al. Biologic therapy precents covid related complications in Inflammatory Bowel Disease patients. Presented at Digestive Disease Week; May 6-9, 2023; Chicago, Illinois. Abstract 1121.
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