Efficacy and safety of ustekinumab in East Asian patients with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis: a subpopulation analysis of global phase 3 induction and maintenance studies (UNIFI)

ABSTRACT

Background/Aims@#We aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of ustekinumab (UST) in the East-Asian population with moderate to severely active ulcerative colitis (UC). @*Methods@#This sub-analysis was conducted on data from East-Asian patients included in the UNIFI program (NCT02407236). UNIFI consisted of two double-blind, placebo-controlled trials an 8-week induction study and a 44-week randomized withdrawal maintenance study. @*Results@#Of 133 East-Asian patients (Japanese 107, Korean 26) who underwent randomization, 131 completed induction study and 111 entered maintenance study. In the maintenance study, 78 patients were randomized. Patients who received UST 130 mg and UST 6 mg/kg showed numerically higher clinical remission at week 8 in the induction study (5/44 [11.4%] and 5/45 [11.1%], respectively) compared with those who received placebo (0/44, 0%). The proportion of patients achieved clinical remission at week 44 was numerically higher in the UST 90 mg q12w group (10/21, 47.6%), but similar in the UST 90 mg q8w group (5/26, 19.2%) compared to placebo (7/31, 22.6%). Serious adverse events were reported in 1 patient in UST 130 mg group, but no patient in UST 6 mg/kg group through week 8 in the induction study, and 1 patient in UST 90 mg q12w group and 5 patients in the UST 90 mg q8w group in the maintenance study. No deaths were reported in East-Asian patients throughout the study. @*Conclusions@#UST induction and maintenance treatments were effective in East-Asian patients with moderate to severe UC; the efficacy and safety profiles were consistent with the overall population.