One-Year Efficacy of Guselkumab Versus Advanced Therapies for the Treatment of Moderately to Severely Active Crohn’s Disease: A Network Meta-Analysis

This study used network meta-analysis (NMA) to evaluate the comparative efficacy of available advanced therapies for moderately to severely active Crohn’s disease (CD) versus the IL-23 inhibitor guselkumab.

A systematic literature review was conducted to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of advanced therapies in moderately to severely active CD. Bayesian NMAs were conducted for outcomes of clinical response, clinical remission, endoscopic response, and a combined outcome of clinical remission with endoscopic response, at the end of the maintenance phase (up to 1 year). Primary analyses included patients with varied prior inadequate treatment responses, with additional analyses conducted for specific subgroups. Re-randomized trials were normalized in several cases to mimic a standard treat-through design, incorporating data from additional sources, when necessary, for patients who had an inadequate response or experienced a delayed response following induction.

Of the 58 RCTs identified, 13 with maintenance endpoint data were ultimately included in the NMAs. Guselkumab 100 mg and 200 mg were more likely to be effective versus several comparators. Guselkumab 200 mg demonstrated significantly greater efficacy versus infliximab 10 mg/kg every 8 weeks and upadacitinib 30 mg daily for clinical response and clinical remission. For endoscopic response, guselkumab 200 mg showed significantly greater efficacy than ustekinumab, adalimumab, and upadacitinib. Significance was also noted versus ustekinumab on the combined outcome of clinical remission with endoscopic response. Similarly, guselkumab 100 mg demonstrated efficacy versus comparators across analyses. Guselkumab achieved higher rankings based on surface under the cumulative ranking curve. Findings of primary analyses within mixed populations were generally corroborated by subpopulation analyses.

Results of this NMA in moderately to severely active CD indicate a higher likelihood of guselkumab achieving each clinical and endoscopic endpoint analyzed at the end of the maintenance phase versus other advanced therapies assessed.