Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, the main forms of inflammatory bowel disease are chronic diseases that can occur at any age. The conventional approach for treatment follows a pyramid pattern where most patients start on conventional therapies (e.g. anti-inflammatory drugs, corticosteroids, etc.). Unfortunately, many patients fail to induce remission, leading to the need for second line, disease-modifying, molecularly targeted therapies (MTTs). MTTs can be very effective however physician have no tools to rationally match patients with effective treatment with MTTs. Without timely and appropriate treatment, patients accumulate tissue damage and a greater risk of disease progression requiring surgery. In this project, we propose a reliable and relatively inexpensive blood test, based on serum protein analytes and proprietary algorithm to prioritize which of the most used MTTs best matches a patient’s profile and thus most likely to lead to remission. For society, such a test will decrease the costs related to prescription of ineffective medical treatments, decreased hospitalization costs due to fewer surgeries.
User: Kate Lee (Crohn’s and Colitis Canada)