Background: Biologic therapies are often used in patients with ulcerative colitis who are non-responsive to conventional treatments. However, non-response or loss of response to biologics often occurs, leading to dose escalation, combination therapy, and/or treatment switching. We investigated real-world treatment patterns of biologic therapies among patients with ulcerative colitis in the USA.
Methods: This study analyzed data from the IBM® MarketScan® Commercial and Medicare Supplemental Databases (medical/pharmacy claims for >250 million patients in the USA) to identify patients with ulcerative colitis initiating a biologic therapy (adalimumab, infliximab, golimumab, or vedolizumab) with 12 months of follow-up post-initiation. Key measures were patient baseline characteristics, dose escalation (average maintenance dose >20% higher than label), adherence (proportion of days covered), and ulcerative colitis-related healthcare costs in the 12 months following biologic therapy initiation.
Results: Of 2,331 patients included in the study (adalimumab [N=1,291], infliximab [N=810], golimumab [N=127], vedolizumab [N=103]), 28.1% used concomitant immunosuppressant therapy within 12 months post-initiation. Overall, 23.6% (adalimumab), 34.8% (infliximab), 9.9% (golimumab), and 39.2% (vedolizumab) of patients dose escalated within 12 months. Patients who dose escalated incurred $20,106 higher total ulcerative colitis-related healthcare costs over 12 months than those who did not. Adherence (covariate-adjusted proportion of days covered) ranged from 0.63 to 0.73, and 39.3% of patients discontinued within 12 months (median treatment duration=112 days).
Conclusion: Dose escalation was common, and incurred higher costs, in patients with ulcerative colitis initiating biologic therapies. Sub-optimal adherence and/or discontinuation within 12 months of initiation occurred frequently, highlighting the challenges in managing these patients.
Living with ulcerative colitis in Germany: a retrospective analysis of dose escalation, concomitant treatment use and healthcare costs
