Dive Brief:
- FDA has approved Takeda's Entyvio (vedolizumab) for the treatment of moderate to severe ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.
- It is indicated as second-line treatment after treatment with first-line treatments, including corticosteroids, immunomodulators, or tumor necrosis factor blockers have failed.
- Entyvio is an antibody-based treatment with targeted anti-inflammatory activity in the gastrointestinal tract..
Dive Insight:
As a second-line treatment option, this antibody-based biologic can be used as follow-up treatment after therapy with corticosteroids, immunomodulators, or tumor necrosis factor (TNF) blockers have failed. One of the most notable benefits associated with Entyvio is that it is targeted in the gut and has fewer side effects than TNF blockers, which have a systemic effect on the immune system, resulting in greater risk of infection. One downside, however, is the fact that Entyvio is administered via injectable infusion.
Taking all of these factors into consideration, along with the unmet medical need for many patients with IBD, Deutsche Bank predicts that Entyvio could eventually become a blockbuster drug, grossing $1 billion a year or more.