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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 10/1/2018 7:50 AM (GMT 0)
I hear lots of new medicines for severe UC.

Why is there not more effort towards mild cases?
Posted 10/1/2018 9:15 AM (GMT 0)
because biologics generate enormous sums of money so it is in vital interest of Big Pharma to turn mild cases into more serious ones smile Takeda & Finch cooperation on FIN-524 sounds interesting, but no news has been given recently so I'm wondering if they are still working on it
Posted 10/1/2018 9:30 AM (GMT 0)
Is that a mild treatment in the pipeline ?
Posted 10/1/2018 1:18 PM (GMT 0)
some of the mechanism of severe cases lead to therapy points of attack that can also be used in mild cases. to some extent a severe case is a mild case that had not responded to treatment and continued to spread. in this sense the question does misleads more than it focuses.

But, many mild cases (with little or no apparent inflammation) have continued GI distress that cannot clearly be called IBS. In this sense the question makes much more sense. What will it take to get more research on the GI symptoms that treating inflammation does not get rid of? One thing that would help is a diagnosis. It is unlikely that any company will develop a medication to treat something that does nto have a diagnosis. FDA approval is per diagnosis.
Posted 10/1/2018 1:58 PM (GMT 0)
Well there's some new and novel things currently going through clinical trials for UC. Some of them are for more mild treatments. A good example is QuBiologics SSI, /www.quibd.com/ssi-intro/how-ssi-may-work/, which is being clinical trialed with mild to moderate UC cases.

There's a Crohn's Vaccine that's in clinical trials (based on the whole MAP/Johne's-Disease/tuberculosis theory) that would be prescribed to a broad spectrum of Crohn's and possibly UC cases (dependent on results). www.crohnsmapvaccine.com/

There's a number of new biologics which do get the most attention, as it takes care of the most severe cases. Certainly research is very, very expensive and many drugs do not make it through the trial process. I forget the exact ratio, something like 1-in-3 drugs make it to market and the cost can be many millions for an attempt (development, clinical trial vetting, etc.). Biologics have the biggest return on investment (with one infusion getting $5,000.00-$10,000.00 or more and a lifetime of said drug). New pills might earn $1000.00 a month (same timeframe as prior example). In the end it is a business, and Humira, Remicade, and others are blockbuster successes in sales, making the pharmaceutical company tons of cash (often 2/3 of that company's profit for a year). If you're developing a new drug, hard not to look at those big numbers and not follow suit. I wish was all empathetic causes but it is a capitalistic society.
Posted 10/2/2018 1:33 PM (GMT 0)
In addition to what others have said, I don't believe drug companies enter into research looking to treat only mild or only severe cases. They develop a theory and Chase it down. The mouse studies and clinical trials tell them a story and it goes on from there. My uneducated guess is there is some risk/reward calculation. If biologic medications did not carry so many side effects (and weren't so expensive) we'd likely all be taking them.
Posted 10/2/2018 2:48 PM (GMT 0)
I'm not sure why a pharma company would even focus on mild cases at this point with what's already in the market since a mild case really is one that responds...if it's non-respondent I'd say it's much more likely to be a severe case.
Posted 10/22/2018 12:05 AM (GMT 0)
amazing how many ft trials has been going on recently and on so many different diseases! https://thepowerofpoop.com/worldwide-fecal-transplant-studies-recruiting-in-2018/
Posted 10/23/2018 5:49 PM (GMT 0)
so maybe Mossad will bring the solution smile http://www.timesofisrael.com/kibbutz-duo-turned-entrepreneurs-on-quest-to-whip-gut-bugs/
Posted 10/23/2018 7:55 PM (GMT 0)
I'm so jaded about these new medicines. I tried every one and all they did was buy me some time before the inevitable hell flares started up again. It has only been through extensive research and self-experiment that I've found things to downgrade my UC to near remission.

The way I look at medicines now... they are meant to buy you time until you find a real solution, and the solutions are out there. I just can't trust modern medicine anymore. Their "solutions" all just make you worse, even surgery.

I might lose my bowel one day anyway but I feel that there's a real answer for everyone. I'm one of that 10% of UC cases that is so severe they tell you to get surgery or prepare to die, yet I am still here. It was really, really hard to get to where I am and I know that not everyone has that in them. A lot of people tap out and just get surgery. I'm just not one of those people. Every time they release a drug and get people's hopes up, I get angry. They are not selling real hope. They're just trying to make profit off people's suffering and it really hurts to see it.

I wish we had a pharmaceutical industry had a different fiduciary responsibility... to really cure people, which they CAN do, if their priorities were different!

Post Edited (MarkWithIBD) : 10/23/2018 9:37:52 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 10/23/2018 9:05 PM (GMT 0)
I have just read they are coming up with this new probiotic:
SER 287 which is fo mild-to-moderate cases
Posted 10/23/2018 9:57 PM (GMT 0)
I m using a old medication that is not for Colitis I found out about it reading a post on this site its bupropion and I also take lialda I been on it for about 2 months and I weaned myself off predisone. I consider myself in remission. and compared to the prices of uc meds its cheap but the lialda is expensive but im not changing anything finally found something that works
Posted 10/23/2018 10:40 PM (GMT 0)
Seres failed one clinical trial, I do hope that this time they'll be more successul. As for now, unfortunately most cases with new meds look just as MarkWithIbd has described it.
Posted 10/24/2018 12:25 PM (GMT 0)
Every medication has about a 65% success rate, new and old alike. Brand new medications do not change that basic underlying fact to this disease. There's 25% of us that are just non-responders to most conventional treatments, and either they find a surgery, or in some small cases an alternative treatment route for their solution. UC is just so poorly understood there could be multiple diseases that share the same symptoms and need different treatment methods (and we're only getting one of those right now). It could be that some have a genetic variant that makes his/her disease so severe that nothing at all could possibly work for it.
Posted 10/24/2018 1:11 PM (GMT 0)
Another issue is that the biologics can have some serious, if rare, side effects. I remember when they first started appearing, we were all sure if we took them we'd get lymphoma or something equally serious. Now we know that is so rare as to not be a real concern for most of us. Nevertheless, doctors, pharmaceutical companies and the FDA are not anxious to endorse a drug that can have these side effects for a mild case of anything.
Posted 10/24/2018 3:50 PM (GMT 0)
I think mild cases should be handled more aggressively and promptly (but with drugs that can be used longterm - and I agree more drugs in this class are needed), because they invariably become severe cases over time if the inflammation is allowed to continue at any level.
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