ECCO 2023 Highlights Podcast

In this episode (16 min), Medicom’s correspondent covers 6 presentations from the 18th Congress of
ECCO (the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation), held March 1-4, 2023, in Copenhagen, Denmark.

1. Early postoperative vedolizumab decreases postoperative endoscopic relapse in CD
   When started on vedolizumab within 4 weeks after resection, patients had a significantly lower
   likelihood to experience a recurrence of Crohn’s disease (CD) than on placebo. Also, remission was
   seen in significantly more vedolizumab patients after 6 months. The REPREVIO trial was intended to
   establish whether a treatment with vedolizumab starting shortly after an ileocolonic resection, would
   have a beneficial effect on the recurrence of CD.
2. Long-term ozanimod treatment shows sustained response in UC
   After up to 3 years of ozanimod therapy for ulcerative colitis (UC), the benefit of treatment was
   maintained in a large proportion of patients. Compared with the already known safety profile, no
   unexpected events emerged during this period. The interim analysis of the phase 3 True North open-
   label extension (OLE) trial (NCT02531126) evaluated ozanimod in patients with moderate to severely
   active UC on about 3 years of continuous ozanimod treatment for efficacy and safety over time.
3. Proton pump inhibitor use is associated with worse outcome of CD
   In patients with Crohn´s disease (CD), exposure to proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) is an independent risk
   factor for worse treatment outcomes and shorter survival. Therefore, the widespread use of these
   agents should be critically reassessed.
4. Perinatal exposure to parental CD increases the risk in offspring
   Offspring exposed particularly to maternal Crohn’s disease (CD) early in life had a markedly increased
   risk of developing CD compared with those exposed to parental CD later in life. Babies with early
   contact had a higher intestinal permeability and an altered microbiome composition, which might
   explain their elevated risk.
5. GLP-1-based therapy for diabetes: no increased IBD risk
   A prospective, nationwide, cohort study could not find an increased risk for the development of
   inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that was linked to the treatment of type 2 diabetes with glucagon-
   like peptide-1 (GLP-1)-based therapies.
6. Final, long-term ustekinumab efficacy results in UC
   The 4-year results of the UNIFI long-term extension (LTE) study show that ustekinumab is safe and
   effective over the whole time-period in patients with moderate to severe ulcerative colitis (UC). Most
   patients achieve a sufficient treatment effect with a dose interval of 12 weeks.

Posted on 16 March 202327 June 2024