New Non-anti-TNF-α Biological Therapies for the Treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Blockade of the tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) pathway has been a major advancement for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). A substantial proportion of patients with moderate to severe Crohn’s disease do not have a response to treatment with TNFα antagonists (primary nonresponse), and among patients who do have a response, it is often not sustained (secondary nonresponders) or side effects require discontinuation of medical therapy. As a consequence of this, there is an ongoing need to develop new biologics with different mechanisms of action. This chapter will discuss the major non-anti-TNF-α biological agents in the pipeline that are currently undergoing evaluation to effectively and safely treat patients with IBD.