Impact Of Early Endoscopic Remission After Advanced Therapy On Long-Term Complications In Crohn's Disease: Findings From TARGET-IBD.

Challenge

Achieving early endoscopic remission after advanced therapy initiation is a treat-to-target goal in Crohn's disease, but real-world evidence establishing that early endoscopic remission translates into lower rates of long-term complications—surgery, hospitalization, disease progression—had not been generated at scale.

Solution

The TARGET-IBD registry was used to compare rates of disease progression, surgery, and hospitalization between CD patients achieving early endoscopic remission after advanced therapy and those who did not, using longitudinal time-to-event analyses.

Impact

Establishing that early endoscopic remission after advanced therapy prevents long-term CD complications provides real-world clinical meaningfulness evidence for endoscopic remission as a treat-to-target endpoint, supporting Merck's regulatory strategy and prescriber messaging for its Crohn's disease portfolio.