Patients with Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis or other inflammatory diseases are often treated with adalimumab. However, long-term therapy success is not always achieved. As a recent study suggests, rapid testing of adalimumab concentrations may be the key.
Since the bioavailability of adalimumab may vary from patient to patient and its efficacy may decrease over time, it is important to check the drug concentration on a regular basis and adjust the therapy if necessary. Rapid tests offer great advantages over traditional tests for therapeutic drug monitoring. „Early monitoring of adalimumab concentrations has the potential to reduce future anti-drug antibody formation and prevent treatment failure”, concludes gastroenterologist in training at the University Hospitals Leuven, Dr. Bram Verstockt, when asked to summarize the major findings of his group’s recent publication in Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics. [1]
In this study, Dr. Bram Verstockt and his colleagues examined the relevance of early adalimumab monitoring using a rapid test to guide treatment optimization in Crohn’s Disease patients receiving adalimumab. For the drug concentration measurements, they made use of the lateral flow test RIDA®QUICK ADM Monitoring. This test provides results within only 20 minutes and thereby “allows immediate treatment optimizations in daily clinical practice”, according to Dr. Bram Verstockt.
More findings and insights of this study are kindly presented by Dr. Bram Verstockt in the following video.
Ref: 1. Verstockt B, Moors G, Bian S, et al., Aliment Pharmacol Ther. Influence of early adalimumab serum levels on immunogenicity and long‐term outcome of anti‐TNF naïve Crohn’s disease patients: the usefulness of rapid testing. 2018;48:731-739.
