Advances in the Treatment of CROHN'S DISEASE
Crohn's Disease
For patients with Crohn's disease, attacks can bring everyday activities to a screeching halt as the incurable, inflammatory bowel disease ravages their gastrointestinal tract. The 1998 approval of infliximab to treat moderate and severe Crohn's was the first therapy approved for the disease; the compound successfully reduces symptoms and improves patient's sense of well-being.40
While scientists are deepening their understanding of the effects of Crohn's disease, the cause remains a mystery. The most popular theory is that the body's immune system reacts to a virus or a bacterium by launching an attack against the microbes and causing ongoing inflammation in the intestine. People with Crohn's disease tend to have abnormalities of the immune system, but doctors do not know whether they are a cause or result of the disease.41 Crohn's disease is characterized by chronic inflammation of the intestinal wall or any part of the gastrointestinal tract and causes symptoms of abdominal
pain, chronic diarrhea, loss of appetite, weight loss, joint aches, and fatigue.
Two serious complications are abnormal enlargement of the colon and intestinal obstruction; the disease also can cause lesions, abscesses, and grooves in the intestinal wall and surrounding area.
Patient Perspective: A Decade-Long Struggle with Crohn's: John's Story
PHARMACEUTICAL ADVANCES
Finally, Remission and Better Quality of Life for Those with Painful Bowel Disease
Infliximab, the first therapy for Crohn's disease, is a genetically engineered antibody that targets a protein that promotes inflammation in the body. Administered intravenously, infliximab decreases inflammation along the lining of the intestines and is effective in closing sores between the bowel and skin.42 In clinical trials, a clinical improvement or remission occurred in 65 percent of patients with severe to moderate Crohn's disease after a single dose.43 The FDA estimates that this drug can help about 175,000 people in the United States.44
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Endnotes:
40 Food and Drug Administration, "First Treatment for Crohn's Disease Approved" (24 August 1998), http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/NEW00651.html (accessed 13 September 2005).
41 National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Crohn's Disease, http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/crohns/#caus (accessed 10 September 2005).
42 Food and Drug Administration, "First Treatment for Crohn's Disease Approved," op. cit.
43 S. R. Targan et al., "A Short-Term Study of Chimeric Monoclonal Antibody cA2 to Tumor Necrosis Factor for Crohn's Disease," The New England Journal of Medicine 337, no. 15 (1997): 1029-1036.
44 Food and Drug Administration, Office of Orphan Products Development (OOPD), Approved Orphan Drug Spreadsheet, available upon request from OOPD.
