The Long-Term Clinical Effectiveness of Ustekinumab in Antitumor Necrosis Factor-Experienced Crohn’s Disease Patients

Background Crohn’s disease (CD) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) of unknown etiology. Ustekinumab (UST), an interleukin (IL)-12 and IL-23 antibody, has been approved in the recent years to treat IBD, both Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. This study clarifies the long-term effectiveness of ustekinumab (UST) in antitumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) refractory Crohn’s disease in Middle Eastern patients. Methods A retrospective review study, including 30 refractory or medication-intolerant patients with Crohn’s disease, was conducted at a tertiary care center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The patients were started on ustekinumab and followed up for at least 52 weeks. Follow-up was performed on weeks 12, 24, and 52. Data related to demographic and laboratory parameters, the dosing schedule of ustekinumab administration, and the Harvey-Bradshaw index (HBI) were collected. Clinical remission and response rates were assessed. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS Statistics version 28.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). A statistical significance threshold of p < 0.05 was adopted. Results The mean age of the study subjects was 34.2 ± 17.9 years (95% confidence interval (CI): 27.5-40.9), with a mean disease duration of 10.6 ± 4.9 years (95% CI: 8.8-12.5). Of our cohort, 56.7% failed two biologics during their disease course, and about 20% failed three different biologics. The percentage of patients who used thiopurines was 76.7%, while 6.7% used methotrexate. Concurrent immunomodulators were used by 58.6% of the patients. Corticosteroids were given to 13.3% of the patients. Intravenous induction of UST at 6 mg/kg was used for 90% of the patients, while only 10% used a 260 mg subcutaneous dose. At week 12, 73.3% of the patients had a clinical response, and 66.7% achieved clinical remission. Corticosteroid-free remission, clinical response, and clinical remission showed a decreasing percentage trend between weeks 12 and 24 compared to week 52 where a spike was observed in all aforementioned parameters. The clinical response rate at week 52 was 76.7%. The p-values from cross-tabulation were significant for clinical response and remission when comparing week 12 to weeks 24 and 52. Conclusion Ustekinumab presents a safe and effective treatment option in moderate to severe Crohn’s disease patients with previous exposure to multiple biologics.