Identification of inadequate responders to advanced therapy among commercially-insured adult patients with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis in the United States

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this analysis was to assess the frequency of inadequate response over 1 year from advanced therapy initiation among patients with Crohn’s disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC) in the United States using a claims-based algorithm. Factors associated with inadequate response were also analyzed. METHODS: This study utilized claims data of adult patients from the HealthCore Integrated Research Database (HIRD(®)) from January 01, 2016 to August 31, 2019. Advanced therapies used in this study were tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi) and non-TNFi biologics. Inadequate response to an advanced therapy was identified using a claims-based algorithm. The inadequate response criteria included adherence, switching to/added a new treatment, addition of a new conventional synthetic immunomodulator or conventional disease-modifying drugs, increase in dose/frequency of advanced therapy initiation, and use of a new pain medication, or surgery. Factors influencing inadequate responders were assessed using multivariable logistic regression. RESULTS: A total of 2437 patients with CD and 1692 patients with UC were included in this analysis. In patients with CD (mean age: 41 years; female: 53%), 81% had initiated TNFi, and 62% had inadequate response. In patients with UC (mean age: 42 years; female: 48%), 78% had initiated a TNFi, and 63% had an inadequate response. In both patients with CD and UC, inadequate response was associated with low adherence (CD: 41%; UC: 42%). Inadequate responders were more likely to be prescribed a TNFi (for CD: odds ratio [OR] = 1.94; p < 0.001; for UC: OR = 2.76; p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: More than 60% of patients with CD or UC had an inadequate response to their index advanced therapy within 1 year after initiation, mostly driven by low adherence. This modified claims-based algorithm for CD and UC appears useful to classify inadequate responders in health plan claims data. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12876-023-02675-w.