Effectiveness and Safety of Golimumab in Treating Outpatient Ulcerative Colitis: A Real-Life Prospective, Multicentre, Observational Study in Primary Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Centers

Background & Aims: Golimumab (GOL) has been recently approved in Italy for the treatment of ulcerative colitis (UC) unresponsive to standard treatments. Our aims were to assess the real-life efficacy and safety of GOL in managing UC outpatients in Italian primary Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) centres.Methods: Consecutive UC outpatients with at least 3-months follow-up were enrolled. Primary end-point was the induction and maintenance of remission in UC, defined as Mayo score ≤2, at 6-month follow-up.Results: Ninety-three patients were enrolled. At 6-month follow-up, remission was obtained in 34 (36.5%) patients. Shorter duration of disease was the only significant predictive factor of remission. Clinical response was achieved in 60 (64.5%) patients, while mucosal healing (MH) was obtained in 18 (19.3%) patients. Sixteen (47.0%) patients under remission were still under therapy with steroids. C-reactive protein and fecal calprotectin significantly dropped during the follow-up (p<0.001 for both proteins). Adverse events occurred in 4 (4.3%) patients and 3 of them stopped treatment. Colectomy was performed in only one patient (1.1%).Conclusions: Golimumab seems to be safe and effective in inducing and maintaining remission in real life UC outpatients.Abbreviations: ADA: Adalimumab; CRP: C-reactive Protein; GOL: Golimumab; FC: Fecal calprotectin; IBD: Inflammatory Bowel Diseases; IFX: Infliximab; IQR: Interquartile range; MH: Mucosal Healing; SC: Subcutaneously; TBC: Tuberculosis; TNFα: Tumor necrosis factor α; UC: Ulcerative Colitis.