Proactive adalimumab trough measurement is associated with improved treatment outcomes in children with Crohn’s Disease: The PAILOT randomised controlled trial

Amit Assa © ECCO

Loss of response (LOR) during anti-TNF treatment for Crohn's Disease (CD) is commonly approached through the measurement of trough concentration (TC) and anti-drug antibodies, with subsequent modification of treatment (reactive therapeutic drug measurement, TDM). It is appealing to speculate that tailored treatment based on routine TC and antibody measurements (proactive TDM) may assist in sustaining adequate drug levels and thus in improving efficacy and preventing the evolution of anti-drug antibodies. Nevertheless, two randomised controlled trials, the TAXIT [1] and the TAILORIX [2], have failed to demonstrate superiority of level-based over clinically based adjustment of infliximab treatment. To date, there are no prospective studies comparing proactive vs reactive TDM in paediatric CD nor are there any studies evaluating the proactive approach among adults or children treated with adalimumab. Hence, we aimed to investigate the effect of proactive drug monitoring-based treatment, in comparison with clinical and biologic-based monitoring of disease activity in children with CD treated with adalimumab.

Janneke van der Woude © ECCO

During the ECCO’19 Copenhagen Congress the Scientific Committee cordially welcomed Marc Ferrante as a new member.

Marc Ferrante has been an individual member of ECCO since 2008 and has contributed to several ECCO Activities and Initiatives. He was one of the Y-ECCO Founders and Y-ECCO Chairs. His career in ECCO continued in 2015 with a position on ClinCom, and he subsequently became chair of this committee in 2017. 

The educational programme of the 15^th Congress of ECCO starts prior to the official start of the ECCO Congress and courses take place from February 12-15, 2020. These activities target ECCO’s different interest groups including young gastroenterologists, surgeons, paediatricians, IBD Nurses, dietitians, allied health professionals and scientists.

An overview of these activities can be found below. Please note that courses/workshops may run concurrently. As these educational activities have a limited capacity, we encourage you to register at your earliest convenience.

We look forward to seeing you in Vienna!

The Scientific Programme of the 15^th Congress of ECCO provides attendees the unique opportunity to learn from the world’s leading specialists in the field of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases. Held from Wednesday to Saturday, February 12-15, 2020, the Scientific Programme is structured around basic science, translational medicine and clinical sessions. Additionally, it includes oral presentations of the 40 best abstracts of the Congress. The focus of all sessions is clinical practice founded on science with practical take home messages and, as every year, the congress registration fee includes access to all scientific sessions.

Register now and seize the opportunity to hear current and relevant studies from international experts in IBD!

Nuha Yassin  © ECCO

Ignacio Catalán-Serra © Ignacio Catalán-Serra

For this second issue of ECCO News in 2019, we would like to continue to review the excellent scientific content presented at the recent annual ECCO´19 annual meeting held in Copenhagen.

We would like to focus our attention this time on the contribution of the Y-ECCO Members, summarizing the five Y-ECCO Abstract Awards for this year, as well as to provide a comprehensive review of the ten awarded digital oral presentations (DOP).

We hope that this representation of high-quality research combining epidemiological, basic and clinical aspects of inflammatory bowel disease is of interest for a wide range of ECCO Members and helps encourage and inspire future innovative work.

Silvio Danese © ECCO

Dear ECCO Friends,

One of the ECCO Community’s major aims is to create a network for data sharing that will allow researchers to address clinical issues through collaborative projects. Epidemiology research is one of the tools of value in filling the gaps in our knowledge of Inflammatory Bowel Disease through the collection of large prospective datasets. One highlight of this issue of ECCO News is the summary of the “hot topics” in Epidemiology as they emerged from ECCO ‘19.

As soon as the ECCO’19 Congress in Copenhagen ended, our community immediately started to work towards ECCO’20. A major goal of ECCO is to offer young gastroenterologists, surgeons, paediatricians, IBD Nurses, allied healthcare professionals and scientists an opportunity to improve their knowledge through courses and workshops. In this issue, you will find an overview of the Educational Activities at ECCO’20 and the preliminary Scientific Programme.

Hungary

Name of group: Hungarian Colon Section
Number of active members: 200
Number of meetings per year: 2 
President and Secretary: Karoly Palatka (president), Klaudia Farkas (secretary)
National Representatives: Tamas Molnar, Karoly Palatka
Joined ECCO in: 2004
Incidence of IBD in the country (if available): 10/100,000

Tim Raine  © ECCO

We are excited to announce this new feature to support readers of the Journal of Crohn’s and Colitis (JCC). Since January, key papers accepted for publication in the journal are being accompanied by a short (5-7 minute) audio recording, made available from the Journal homepage.

Report on the main feedback and questions from the delegates

At the 14^th Congress of ECCO, the UR-CARE Team received positive feedback from delegates who tried UR-CARE at the UR-CARE Training Centre. Most delegates were very satisfied with the ease of use of the platform and pleasantly surprised that it was free for physicians. Having a standardised platform among the different centres was also very welcomed. People were impressed by the possibility of creating personalised reports of their patients and of having access to a statistical module with the use of desired filters (a timesaving and major asset compared to Access or Excel databases).

Charlotte Hedin © ECCO

Our interviewee for this Issue is the current Director of the Center for Clinical Research and Prevention at Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark. She started her medical training at Herlev University Hospital in Copenhagen, but early in her career the lure of research called and she embarked on a career in epidemiology with a particular focus on IBD and cancer risk. To date she has more than 130 publications listed on PubMed, of which many are highly cited and over 70 are first or last author contributions. She has received many awards for her research and is frequently invited to present her data at international meetings and congresses. Professor Tine Jess, welcome to the Interview Corner.