ECCO News

ECCO News keeps ECCO Members up-to-date on what is going on within the organisation and reports on IBD activities taking place within Europe. Since Spring 2006, ECCO News has maintained the flow of information between Members of the organisation. 

ECCO News is an important part of the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation’s ambition to create a European standard of IBD care and to promote knowledge and research in the field of IBD. 

Editor & Associate Editors

Edouard Louis
© ECCO

Nuha Yassin
© ECCO

Ignacio Catalán-Serra
© ECCO

Brigida Barberio
© ECCO

Spyros Siakavellas
© ECCO

Latest ECCO News Content


30June2020

Call for abstracts for the 16th Congress of ECCO

To submit an abstract for the 16th Congress of ECCO, use our ECCO Portal.

Please also view important information on the submission process and the guidelines for abstract submission.

Posted in ECCO News, Congress News, ECCO'21, Volume 15, Issue 2

30June2020

Letter from the ECCO President

Laurent Peyrin-Biroulet, ECCO President


Laurent Peyrin-Biroulet
© ECCO

 

Dear ECCO IBD Community,

Dear ECCO Friends,

During the past three months of the COVID-19 pandemic ECCO has intensively and carefully analysed measures of how to safely steer our ECCO activities through the upcoming year. ECCO would like to share some important information with you:

Posted in ECCO News, Letters from the ECCO President, Volume 15, Issue 2

12March2020

Terra Incognita – for explorers in IBD - Tillotts Pharma Educational Parallel Symposium


© Tillotts

The satellite symposium sponsored by Tillotts Pharma was introduced by the Chair, Brian Feagan, Robarts Research Institute, Canada. The topics discussed were of unknown territory in areas where little research has been conducted up until now.

Posted in ECCO News, ECCO'20, Volume 15, Issue 1

12March2020

ECCO Country Member Profiles: Spain

  Spain

Name of group: GETECCU (Spanish IBD Group)

Number of active members: 985

Number of meetings per year: We celebrate one national meeting a year with more than 400 attendees and three annual meetings for residents. We also have a meeting for nurses and a Young GETECCU meeting per year.

President and Secretary: Manuel Barreiro de Acosta and Yamile Zabana Abdo

National Representatives:  Manuel Barreiro de Acosta (President) and Ana Gutierrez Casbas (Vice President)

Joined ECCO in:Manuel Barreiro in 2008 and Ana Gutiérrez in 2019

Incidence of IBD in the country: 16 cases/100.000 persons-years, 7.5 for Crohn´s disease, 8 for Ulcerative Colitis (UC) and 0.5 for unclassified IBD. These data come from our nationwide epidemiologic Spanish Study, EpidemIBD.

Posted in ECCO News, ECCO Country Member Profiles, Volume 15, Issue 1

12March2020

ECCO Country Member Profiles: Estonia

  Estonia

Name of group: Estonian Society of Gastroenterology

Number of active members: 76

Number of meetings per year: 1

President and Secretary: Riina Salupere, Benno Margus

National Representatives: Karin Kull, Hendrik Laja

Joined ECCO in: 2014

Incidence of IBD in the country: 10,3 (2010)

Posted in ECCO News, ECCO Country Member Profiles, Volume 15, Issue 1

12March2020

Y-ECCO Interview Corner: Laurent Peyrin-Biroulet

Charlotte Hedin, Y-ECCO Member

Charlotte Hedin
© ECCO

Laurent Peyrin-Biroulet is Professor of Gastroenterology and head of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) group at the Gastroenterology Department, University Hospital of Nancy, France. He is also the current President of the Groupe d'Etude Thérapeutique des Affections Inflammatoires du Tube
Digestif (GETAID). As of February 15, he has been the new President of ECCO and we interviewed him during the ECCO Congress in Vienna.

Posted in ECCO News, Committee News, Y-ECCO, Volume 15, Issue 1

12March2020

Y-ECCO Literature Review: Gregory Sebepos-Rogers

Gregory Sebepos-Rogers

Addition of azathioprine to the switch of anti-TNF in patients with IBD in clinical relapse with undetectable anti-TNF trough levels and antidrug antibodies: a prospective randomised trial

Roblin X, Williet N, Boschetti G, Phelip JM, Del Tedesco E, Berger AE, Vedrines P, Duru G, Peyrin-Biroulet L, Nancey S, Flourie B, Paul S.

Gut. 2020 Jan 24. doi: 10.1136/gutjnl-2019-319758. [Epub ahead of print]


Gregory Sebepos-Rogers
© Gregory Sebepos-Rogers

Introduction

Anti-tumour necrosis factor-α (anti-TNF) has historically been the mainstay of biologic therapy in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). However, of those who initially respond to anti-TNF, almost 50% will suffer secondary loss of response (SLR) over subsequent years [1,2]. This SLR is primarily predicated on suboptimal anti-TNF trough levels, with or without detectable anti-drug antibodies (ADAs) [3]. Furthermore the prospective, observational study by Kennedy et al. demonstrated that suboptimal anti-TNF trough levels at week 14 predicted ADAs, low trough levels and worse clinical outcomes [4]. This risk was mitigated for both infliximab and adalimumab by the use of immunomodulators such as azathioprine. This corroborates the retrospective data from other cohorts showing how the addition of an immunomodulator can restore clinical response and favourable pharmacokinetics [5–7]. Remission rates when switching to a second anti-TNF have been shown to be lower when the reason to withdraw the first anti-TNF is SLR as compared to intolerance (45% vs 61%) [8]. In the event that SLR to anti-TNF is due to immunogenicity, a switch to another anti-TNF is associated with a risk of ADA to this new therapy [9,10]. A number of patients will also be on anti-TNF monotherapy at the time of switching having de-escalated from previous combination therapy. We know that open-ended prescription of anti-TNF with azathioprine is not without additional risk, notably infection and lymphoma [11]. Furthermore, de-escalation to anti-TNF monotherapy after a period of combination therapy has been shown in most studies not to impact on relapse rates (49% monotherapy versus 48% combination therapy) [12]. It is in precisely this important group of patients that Roblin et al. sought to compare the use of azathioprine in combination with a second anti-TNF versus this second anti-TNF as monotherapy. Over a follow-up period of 2 years, the rates of clinical and immunogenic failure, and of adverse events, were compared.

Posted in ECCO News, Y-ECCO Literature Reviews, Committee News, Y-ECCO, Volume 15, Issue 1

12March2020

Y-ECCO Literature Review: Neil Chanchlani

Neil Chanchlani

Proactive monitoring of adalimumab trough concentration associated with increased clinical remission in children with Crohn's Disease compared with reactive monitoring

Assa A, Matar M, Turner D, Broide E, Weiss B, Ledder O, Guz-Mark A, Rinawi F, Cohen S, Topf-Olivestone C, Shaoul R, Yerushalmi B, Shamir R

Gastroenterology. 2019;157:985–96.e2. doi: 10.1053/j.gastro.2019.06.003


Neil Chanchlani
© Neil Chanchlani

Introduction

Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) of the anti-TNF monoclonal antibodies, infliximab and adalimumab, in patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease is gradually being adopted into routine clinical practice in the United Kingdom [1] and United States [2]. The aim of TDM, measuring an individual’s drug and anti-drug antibody levels, is to assess compliance, drug metabolism and immunogenicity with a view to guiding adjustments or changes in management in order to improve clinical outcomes1. TDM can be proactive, with routine measurement of drug level and anti-drug antibody regardless of clinical outcome, or reactive, with measurement of drug level and anti-drug antibody in the setting of loss of response [3]. Compared to empirical dosing alone, TDM used reactively, at the time of loss of response to an anti-TNF treatment, improves durability of response and safety and leads to significant cost savings [4,5]. The evidence base supporting proactive over reactive TDM is, however, less clear. Two randomised controlled trials done in adults (TAXIT [6] and TAILORIX [7]) did not demonstrate any differences in biological, endoscopic or corticosteroid-free remission between groups, though these trials were limited by methodological limitations and isolating the effect of proactive TDM on defined outcomes was difficult. In contrast, multiple observational studies have concluded that there is less risk of treatment failure and relapse, higher rates of drug persistence and better clinical outcomes in patients who undergo proactive TDM compared to reactive TDM [8–11]. The authors aimed to add to this debate by carrying out a pragmatic, randomised controlled trial assessing whether proactive TDM is superior to reactive testing in children with Crohn’s Disease.

Posted in ECCO News, Y-ECCO Literature Reviews, Committee News, Y-ECCO, Volume 15, Issue 1

12March2020

Y-ECCO Literature Review: Jonathan Blackwell

Jonathan Blackwell

Vedolizumab versus adalimumab for moderate-to-severe Ulcerative Colitis

Sands BE, Peyrin‑Biroulet L, Loftus E, Danese S, Colombel JF, Toruner M, Jonaitis L, Abhyankar B, Chen J, Rogers R, Lirio RA, Bornstein JD, Schreiber S, for the VARSITY Study Group

N Engl J Med 2019;381:1215–26. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1905725


Jonathan Blackwell
© Jonathan Blackwell

Introduction

The management of Ulcerative Colitis (UC) increasingly involves the use of a biologic agent. Placebo-controlled trials have demonstrated the efficacy of both adalimumab, a tumour necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitor, and vedolizumab, an integrin inhibitor. However, variation in study design makes comparison between such trials difficult. This is particularly evident when comparing rates of clinical remission in the placebo groups of different trials. For example, in the ULTRA 2 trial, which established the superiority of adalimumab over placebo in moderate to severe UC, the 52-week clinical remission rate in the placebo group was just 8.5% compared to 15.9% in GEMINI 1, the placebo-controlled trial of vedolizumab [1,2]. In the absence of head-to-head trials between biologics there is a lack of data to inform clinicians of the best choice of agent. VARSITY is the first head-to-head trial to compare the efficacy and safety of vedolizumab and adalimumab in moderate to severely active UC.

Posted in ECCO News, Y-ECCO Literature Reviews, Committee News, Y-ECCO, Volume 15, Issue 1

12March2020

Report on the 6th Y-ECCO Basic Science Workshop

Bram Verstockt, Y-ECCO Member

Bram Verstockt
© ECCO

Dear Y-ECCO Friends,

Bringing basic science from the bench to the bed, and back, can be challenging for both scientists and clinicians.  In order to encourage young scientists and clinicians to collaborate and to approach similar scientific questions from a different – but joint – perspective, the Y-ECCO Basic Science Workshop was founded years ago. Every year, the Y-ECCO Committee invites outstanding senior experts to give a state of the art overview on hot topics in the field. Furthermore, these top-notch speakers not only moderate the discussions following abstract presentations but also inspire and stimulate full-time researchers and young clinicians to do basic science at the start of their careers.

Posted in ECCO News, Committee News, Congress News, ECCO'20, Y-ECCO, Volume 15, Issue 1