Introduction Vedolizumab was recently granted NICE approval for moderate-to-severe Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). Novel pathways agreed by our CCG meant that patients at Guy’s & St. Thomas’ and King’s College Hospitals had early access to vedolizumab.

Methods Records of patients commencing vedolizumab between Nov 2014–15 were screened. Those completing at least 14 weeks of treatment were included. Clinical activity was assessed using Harvey-Bradshaw Index (HBI) or Simple Clinical Colitis Activity Index (SCCAI) at baseline, 14 and 30 weeks. Response: HBI/SCCAI reduction ≥3. Remission: HBI < 5 or SCCAI <3. Continuous data are summarised as medians (range). Pre- and post-induction values were compared using Wilcoxon signed-rank test.

Results 60 patients (CD: 32, 53%, UC 25, 42%, IBD-U 3, 5%) commenced vedolizumab (m:f 29:31, age: 39 (18–74), follow-up: 5 months (1–13)). 19 were excluded from our analysis (3 IBD-U, 5 stomas, 11 treated for <14 weeks). Clinical data from the remaining 41 was analysed.

Of 32 patients with active disease at baseline, 17 (53%) responded and 11 (34%) achieved remission by week 14. The response and remission rates for CD were 8/15 (53%) and 6/15 (40%). In UC they were 9/17 (53%) and 5/17 (29%).

Response and remission rates in anti-TNF experienced patients were 12/26 (46%) and 6/36 (35%) compared to 5/6 (83%) and 5/6 (83%) in anti-TNF naïve patients, respectively. 7/11 (64%) with active disease at baseline who completed 30 weeks of treatment responded and achieved remission.

Faecal calprotectin fell significantly (pre-induction: 1076 (90–4800), post-induction: 478 (10–3184), p = 0.029 for n = 14) and CRP remained stable (pre-induction: 4 (1–70), post-induction: 4 (1–72), p = 0.28 for n = 40).

Rates of steroid use at each time point: 19/41 (46%) at baseline, 11/41 (21%) at week 14 and 3/15 (20%) at week 30. Surgery was required in 4/41 (10%, CD:3 and UC:1).

Conclusion Our experience mirrors a previously reported real-world cohort¹ and demonstrates similar efficacy to the GEMINI trials. This data demonstrates a meaningful reduction in clinical and biochemical disease activity as well as a steroid-sparing effect in patients with complex and previously refractory disease. We did not see a significant difference in efficacy between patients with UC and CD.

Reference 1 Christensen B. et al. Post-marketing experience of vedolizumab for IBD: The University of Chicago experience. ECCO; Barcelona, 2015.

Disclosure of Interest None Declared