James Izanec, MD, AGAF: Examining Quality of Life in Crohn's Disease Treatment

At the American College of Gastroenterology 2021 conference, James Izanec, MD, AGAF, Medical Director, The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, Scientific Affairs, discussed his SEAVUE study, which was a multicenter, randomized, blinded, parallel-group, active-controlled study in biologic-naïve adults with Crohn's disease.

In the interview, Izanec explained the importance of targeting quality of life metrics. The SEAVUE study, which examined ustekinumab and adalimumab in patients with Crohn's disease, focused on work productivity.

Specifically, investigators looked at absenteeism, or being unable to go to work, and presenteeism, which is being able to go to work but being unable to complete work. Both ustekinumab and adalimumab showed to be effective in improving work productivity, according to Izanec.

"That's important to patients," Izanec said, "because beyond just clinical remission, or endoscopic remission, patients want to be able to get back to their life, get back to taking care of their families and going to work."

When looking at the 2 groups in the study, 65% of ustekinumab patients and 61% of adalimumab patients were in clinical remission by the end of the trial. There was not a statistical separation between the groups, but it showed how effective biologic therapies can be at getting patients into clinical remission, said Izanec.