Switching Vedolizumab from IV to SC Injection in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patients with Active Disease: Real-World Experience from a German IBD Cohort

BACKGROUND

Vedolizumab (VDZ) for subcutaneous (SC) injection was approved for use in Europe in 2020 and the US in 2023. Promising efficacy and tolerability have been proven in pivotal trials. However, real-world data on the SC use of VDZ, especially in patients with active disease, are still lacking. We aimed to determine treatment persistence and the drug's efficacy in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients with active disease in comparison to patients in clinical remission.

METHODS

Patients treated for IBD in a tertiary care center from July 2020 to December 2021 were included in this study. Clinical and biochemical parameters and data on treatment adherence were collected. VDZ trough levels and disease activity before and after the switch from intravenous (IV) to SC injections were monitored during routine checkups and were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were followed up until week 20.

RESULTS

Eighty-two patients were included in the study. Of them, 35 patients had active disease (35/82 = 43%) at the time of the switch and 47 patients (47/82 = 57%) were in remission. In total, 10 patients experienced switch failure, 5 were switched back to IV VDZ, and 5 were swapped to a different biologic agent. We observed an increase in VDZ trough levels from the switch to week 8 and from the switch to week 20 in the remission group. Vedolizumab trough levels of 7.4, 51.4, and 33.45 ug/mL at the switch, week 8, and week 20 were identified to discriminate between remission and disease activity in our cohort. There was no new safety signal detected during the study period.

CONCLUSIONS

The switch from IV to SC VDZ proved to be efficient, safe, and even capable of reducing residual disease activity.

Efficacy of Retreatment After Failed Direct-acting Antiviral Therapy in Patients With HCV Genotype 1-3 Infections

Hepatitis C virus infection is causing chronic liver disease, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. By combining direct-acting antivirals (DAAs), high sustained virologic response rates (SVRs) can be achieved. Resistance-associated substitutions (RASs) are commonly observed after DAA failure, and especially nonstructural protein 5A (NS5A) RASs may impact retreatment options.^1-3 Data on retreatment of DAA failure patients using first-generation DAAs are limited.^4-7 Recently, a second-generation protease- and NS5A-inhibitor plus sofosbuvir (voxilaprevir/velpatasvir/sofosbuvir [VOX/VEL/SOF]) was approved for retreatment after DAA failure.⁸ However, this and other second-generation regimens are not available in many resource-limited countries or are not reimbursed by regular insurance, and recommendations regarding the selection of retreatment regimens using first-generation DAAs are very important. This study aimed to analyze patients who were re-treated with first-generation DAAs after failure of a DAA combination therapy.