FROM ANALES DE PEDIATRIA
Adalimumab (ADA) as a first-line anti–tumor necrosis factor therapy induced and maintained clinical remission in children with Crohn’s disease, said Víctor Manuel Navas-López, MD, PhD, of the Hospital Materno Infantil, Málaga, Spain, and his associates.
Infliximab is the usual first-line anti–tumor necrosis factor treatment given to children with Crohn’s disease, with ADA used in patients who don’t respond or who develop tolerance to infliximab.
In a study of 62 infliximab-naive children with Crohn’s disease, clinical remission occurred at week 12 in 81%, and 5% had a mild response. At 52 weeks, 95% of 60 patients were in clinical remission, and 2 stopped treatment.
Dose escalation was necessary for 26% of the 62 patients. Thirty-nine percent of patients had growth retardation.
“ADA treatment significantly improved z-score growth rate in children with Crohn’s disease, especially in those with severe growth failure at baseline,” the researchers said. Only 13% of patients reported adverse events, none of them severe.
Read more in the Anales de Pediatría (2017 Apr 14. doi: 10.1016/j.anpedi.2017.01.013 ).
