Research in Brief

Section snippets

Mirikizumab for Crohn's disease

Mirikizumab, a monoclonal antibody targeting IL-23p19, shows promise for patients with moderately-to-severely active Crohn's disease, according to the VIVID-1 phase 3 trial. Marc Ferrante and colleagues randomly assigned patients who had a previous inadequate response, loss of response, or intolerance to one or more therapies to receive either mirikizumab (n=579), ustekinumab (n=287), or placebo (n=199). The coprimary composite endpoints (mirikizumab vs placebo) were the proportion of patients

Endoscopic sphincterotomy for post-ERCP pancreatitis

Endoscopic sphincterotomy does not reduce the risk of pancreatitis following endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) in patients undergoing biliary drainage for distal malignant biliary obstruction, according to the SPHINX trial. Anke M Onnekink and colleagues randomly assigned patients to receive either endoscopic sphincterotomy (n=156) or no sphincterotomy (control group; n=141) before ERCP with fully covered self-expandable metal stent placement. The primary endpoint of

FMT in Crohn's disease

Faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) was not efficacious at inducing remission in patients with Crohn's disease, according to a results from a new study. Dina Kao and colleagues randomly assigned patients with mild-to-moderate Crohn's disease to receive either FMT, delivered initially via colonoscopy followed by weekly capsules, or placebo for 7 weeks. The trial was halted early due to futility—at week 8, none (0%) of 15 patients in the FMT group had achieved the primary endpoint of combined

Switch maintenance therapy for gastric cancer

Paclitaxel plus ramucirumab as switch maintenance could be a promising treatment strategy for patients with advanced gastric cancer, according to the ARMANI phase 3 trial. Giovanni Randon and colleagues randomly assigned patients with advanced gastric or gastro-oesophageal junction cancers and disease control after 3 months on first-line chemotherapy (FOLFOX or CAPOX) to switch to paclitaxel plus ramucirumab (switch maintenance group; n=144) or to continue chemotherapy for an additional 12

Carvedilol plus simvastatin for cirrhosis with severe portal hypertension

The addition of simvastatin to carvedilol might be beneficial for patients with cirrhosis and severe portal hypertension, new research suggests. Edilmar Alvarado-Tapias and colleagues randomly assigned patients with cirrhosis and high-risk varices who showed an inadequate response to traditional non-selective β-blockers to receive either carvedilol plus simvastatin (n=41) or carvedilol plus placebo (n=41). A reduction in hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) of 2·97±2·5 mm Hg was observed in