Published On: 5/7/2020

Novel Real-World Data Findings From Ongoing TARGET-IBD Study Published In DDW Proceedings

DURHAM, N.C., May 7, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- TARGET PharmaSolutions, an innovative healthcare data company that generates real-world clinical data and evidence, announced today the latest research findings from its inflammatory bowel disease study (TARGET-IBD), which was published in the May issue of the peer-reviewed journal Gastroenterology.

The abstract, "Objective Disease Activity Assessment and Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM) is Lacking Prior to Biologic Therapy Changes in Routine Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinical Practice: TARGET-IBD," was accepted to the annual Digestive Disease Week conference, originally planned to take place in Chicago.

The research aimed to describe the objective marker and therapeutic drug monitoring assessments used in routine clinical practice, prior to biologic therapeutic changes due to loss of response in adult participants. More than 30% of both Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis patients lacked any type of assessment in the 12 weeks leading up to dose changes; for dose discontinuations, this value was over 20%.

"This analysis brought to light that objective monitoring prior to changes in therapeutics is lacking in many cases," said first author Benjamin Click, MD, staff gastroenterologist at Cleveland Clinic. "Improved understanding of reasons for failure may optimize biologic positioning and outcomes in IBD."

TARGET-IBD is a prospective longitudinal cohort of over 4,000 IBD patients receiving usual care from 34 academic and community centers throughout the U.S. Data is collected retrospectively for three years from the patient's date of consent and then prospectively for at least five years. The resultant robust cohort allows for the collection of effectiveness and safety data upon new drug approvals.

An additional abstract was submitted by TARGET PharmaSolutions for its nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) study, TARGET-NASH, and was also accepted for publication. Gastroenterology is the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association Institute.