Effectiveness of golimumab in ulcerative colitis: A review of the real world evidence

Background: Biologics against tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) have dramatically changed the management of moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis (UC). In pivotal clinical trials, golimumab showed efficacy as induction and maintenance therapy in anti-TNF naive UC patients. However, confirmatory data on effectiveness in the real world setting are needed. Aim: to summarize recent evidence on the effectiveness of golimumab in observational real-world studies. Methods: A literature search was conducted using Medline, Embase, and congresses databases for English language articles or abstracts on the effectiveness of golimumab published between January 1, 2014 and May 15, 2018. Pooled short-term (6-14 weeks) and mid- and long-term (24-54 weeks) clinical response and remission rates were calculated. Results: 24 abstracts were included; of those 8 were published full-text articles and 16 were abstracts from medical conferences. Overall, pooled short-term clinical response and remission rates were 59.3% (range 35-85.5%; 13 studies; 1429 patients) and 35.9% (range 14-51.7%; 9 studies; 666 patients), respectively. Pooled mid- and long-term clinical response and remission rates were 60.3% (range 37.1-89.5%; 4 studies; 356 patients) and 39.2% (range 12-84%; 8 studies; 822 patients), respectively. Conclusions: Results: of observational studies confirm that golimumab is an effective therapy for UC in clinical practice. (C) 2018 Editrice Gastroenterologica Italiana S.r.l. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.