Inflammatory Bowel diseases

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is a lifelong, immune mediated chronic disorder characterized by remittent or progressive inflammation that may affect the entire gastrointestinal tract.

It has two major clinical forms: Crohn’s disease (CD) and Ulcerative colitis (CU).

IBD brings a considerable impairment on quality of life for patients, related to the frequent physician visits, hospitalizations and the adverse events of medication or surgery.

Europe has the highest prevalence and incidence values for IBD and is highest growing market, expected to be the leading region by 2027. The health economic burden and permanent work disability in IBD are high in Europe with a total yearly direct healthcare cost of 4.6–5.6 bn Euros (2013 review). Unemployment (10%), sick leave (3–6 weeks/year), and permanent work disability (2-fold increased) are more common in patients with IBD than in unaffected individuals.

A more recent analysis in 2020 revealed that direct health care costs have shifted from hospitalization and surgery towards drug-related expenditures with the increasing use of biologic therapy and other novel agents.

The increasing incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) globally is causing payer impact to become one of the key considerations in the choice of the pharmacological intervention. Treatment escalation to biologics has been and remains the costliest aspect of chronic patient management.

Most patients are offered a tumor necrosis factor (TNF) alpha inhibitor first if first-line treatments (aminosalicylates, corticosteroids or thiopurines) cannot be tolerated, or if the disease has not responded well enough or stopped responding to treatment.

Arega Medical has a novel optimized thiopurine in late clinical development for IBD patients.