The FDA has approved subcutaneous administration of Takeda Pharmaceuticals’ Entyvio for maintenance therapy in adult patients with moderate-to-severe Crohn’s disease following induction therapy via IV administration of the biologic. Subcutaneous Entyvio (vedolizumab, Takeda Pharmaceuticals) was previously approved in 2023 for moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis. The company noted that the drug is also currently available in the United States as the single-dose pre-filled Entyvio Pen. The FDA based its decision on results from VISIBLE 2, a phase 3, randomized, double-blind ..read more

In this Healio video exclusive, Jeffrey Roberts, MS, BSc, shares details about World IBS Day, April 19, which aims to raise awareness and support for patients with irritable bowel syndrome with the theme, “Light Up the Sky for IBS.” “IBS is often stigmatized and misunderstood,” Roberts, founder of World IBS Day and the IBS Patient Support Group and co-founder of Tuesday Night IBS, told Healio. “I wanted to increase awareness and let patients know that they weren’t alone. I also wanted to support health care professionals in the industry who provide a better ..read more

Recipients of livers recovered by normothermic regional perfusion vs. standard super rapid recovery experienced lower rates of ischemic cholangiopathy and biliary complications, with comparable patient and graft survival, data showed. “The most immediate approach to increase access to liver transplant is to improve use of extended-criteria allografts,” Aleah L. Brubaker, MD, PhD, a transplant and hepatobiliary surgeon and assistant professor at the University of California, San Diego, and colleagues wrote in JAMA Surgery. “Normothermic regional perfusion (NRP) is an ..read more

BOSTON — “We should be embracing [AI] and trying to make this a priority to get this right, because I don’t know any alternative to get us out of this frustration right now outside of this technology,” Eric Topol, MD, said. “The opportunity is vast ... and we must eke out the advantages,” Topol, who is the Founder and Director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, said during the ACP Internal Medicine Meeting keynote. AI has already shown promise in medicine, particularly in specialties with advanced diagnostics and screening. “Every type of ..read more

Hepatic adverse events with bimekizumab were low and consistent through 2 years of treatment among patients with moderate to severe psoriasis, according to a study. Patients with moderate to severe psoriasis are at an increased risk for developing comorbidities such as obesity, diabetes and dyslipidemia, which can lead to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Additionally, approximately one-third of psoriasis patients consume excessive amounts of alcohol, which can cause fatty liver disease. “Given the potential for concomitant liver disease, patients with psoriasis have a higher risk of ..read more

April is Alcohol Awareness Month, an annual campaign intended to boost awareness of the heavy burden that alcohol misuse places on affected individuals and their families, as well as its adverse impact on their health and society. “It is also a good time to talk to teens about drinking and to equip them with the knowledge to handle situations involving alcohol,” George F. Koob, PhD, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, said in a related blog. “Even teens who would not normally be tempted to drink alcohol may be drawn in by certain social ..read more

A consortium recommended classifying people with a high risk for pancreatic cancer into subtypes based on family history and germline variants, according to findings published in Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. The Pancreatic Cancer Early Detection (PRECEDE) Consortium found individuals with a family history of pancreatic adenocarcinoma had a significantly higher rate of developing pancreatic cysts compared with those who only had risk based on genetic factors. “We were not expecting familial pancreas cancer to associate with a higher prevalence of pancreas cysts vs ..read more

Ever since my third-year clinical rotations in medical school, I can usually predict what will be written about me in my evaluations before seeing them. The phrases “be more outspoken” and “try not to be so quiet” were copied and pasted in every form. There was usually nothing written about improvement in my knowledge or patient communication. When I started residency, I thought that I would never see those comments again, but they quickly came back to haunt me in my first evaluation as an intern. Under things to improve on, there were the words “be more outspoken ..read more

Despite a class-wide black box warning for prescribing in the early setting, 31% of providers reported positioning Janus kinase inhibitors as first-line treatment among patients with severe ulcerative colitis, according to survey results. “Where it is positioned in the label today is after an anti-TNF, meaning that patients had to have been on some form of TNF inhibitor prior to a JAK inhibitor,” Miguel Regueiro, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the Digestive Disease Institute at Cleveland Clinic, told Healio. “There are different parts of the world where there is not ..read more

Researchers estimated that nearly 60 million individuals aged 45 to 85 years are at average-risk for colorectal cancer and eligible for screening in the U.S., according to cross-sectional study data in JAMA Network Open. “Over the last decade, there have been a number of significant advancements and changes surrounding colorectal cancer screening,” Derek W. Ebner, MD, of the division of gastroenterology and hepatology at the Mayo Clinic, told Healio. “This included the availability of an additional stool-based strategy for screening — a multitarget stool DNA test ..read more