Choose clinical trial for Ulcerative Colitis

A simple search on FindMeCure comes up with as many as 236 clinical trials around the world for Ulcerative colitis, so we see how it can feel a bit overwhelming for you to pick a trial. This is why we narrow it down for you – not all of these 236 clinical trials are equally as promising, some of them are just in phase I yet, while others are testing drugs just pre-approval. But when we choose the phases closest to FDA approval, we’re left with 64 clinical trials for UC and of these 64, we’d like to acquaint you with the most interesting treatments in development. Whenever we do this research, we are reminded that even when things seem particularly gloomy, there is still hope.

For example, there is this phase III study for Filgotinib, which is being investigated for the treatment of RA and Crohn’s disease as well. But what makes Filgotinib so versatile? Filgotinib is a highly selective JAK1 inhibitor, meaning it’s an anti-inflammatory drug, and the common denominator between the targeted diseases is, yes, inflammation. Phase III studies of the drug started in 2016 and so far it seems safe and tolerable, showing “potentially best-in-class efficacy”.

Alternatively, you might be interested in this phase IV trial Manipulating the Microbiome in IBD by Antibiotics and Fecal Microbiota Transplantation (FMT). It aims to study the effect of antibiotics in addition to standard corticosteroid therapy and also, “to assess the outcome of FMT in those not responding to five days of therapy (in either arm)”. But wait, what is FMT? Okay, let me first tell you it’s not as scary as it sounds. Also known as “stool transplant”, FMT is a process of restoration of the healthy colon microflora by exposing it to healthy bacteria which most often is done by colonoscopy but it can also be made easier – as easy as swallowing a capsule.

Now, if you’re allergic to antibiotics or have another reason to avoid them, you can check out this trial for SHP647. So far, in phase II the drug showed significant remission rates and “also met the secondary endpoints of clinical response and mucosal healing and was found to be well-tolerated”^[1]. Apart from that, however, there’s not much information on how exactly SHP647 works but it seems to show promise.

A biologic, targeting tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) is being tested in this phase IV clinical study “Optimising Infliximab Induction Therapy for Acute Severe Ulcerative Colitis”. Infliximab was already improved by the FDA and this is a post-marketing study. The biologic is used for the treatment of a number of autoimmune disease, including Crohn’s and RA. Interestingly, Infliximab was first thought inefficient for the treatment of UC until two 2005 clinical trials showed significant results against placebo.

And to finish off the list, there is also a phase III study in India, investigating the powers of bio-enhanced curcumin against inflammation. So, there you go – if you want to try natural remedies first (with the knowledge and approval of your doctor) now you know where to look at.

As we already established, there’s a lot of promising research going on. These are just some of the results FindMeCure’s search engine comes up with, but there are a lot more where they came from. So, who knows – maybe one of these 236 clinical trials turns out to be the answer you were looking for.