Ulcerative Colitis | Treatment Algorithms | Claims Data Analysis | US | 2015
For the estimated 660,000 people in the United States who suffer from ulcerative colitis (UC), there are several prescription therapies available for treating the associated symptoms. The principal goals of pharmacotherapy for UC are to induce remission during acute flares and to maintain remission for the long term. UC therapy is most frequently initiated with aminosalicylates (oral and/or rectal) before moving on to more-potent therapies for moderate to severe UC, such as immunosuppressants (for maintenance treatment) and the biologics. Using national patient-level claims data, this report analyzes physician adherence to the treatment guidelines by exploring the use of key therapies in the newly diagnosed and recently treated UC patient populations. Considering newly diagnosed patients, the report provides a quantitative analysis of treatment patterns and share by line of therapy, as well as progression between lines, duration of treatment on each line, and use of concomitant treatment. Among recently treated patients, the report quantifies a drug’s source of business compared with its competitors and details which drugs precede others through an analysis of add-versus-switch patterns. Additional analyses explore persistency and compliance by brand.
