PROactive and Early Infliximab Monitoring and OPTimization in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Infliximab (IFX) is a Food and Drug administration (FDA)-appoved monoclonal antibody medication targeting tumor necrosis factor (TNF) widely used in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) to treat intestinal inflammation and improve patient's symptoms. Intravenous (iv) IFX is effective to treat hospitalized IBD patients with moderate-to-severe flares who fail iv corticosteroids (CS). However, about one-third of IBD patients do not respond to this medications and a half will loss the response after an initial response. Researchers have shown that most of these phenomena occur due to low IFX concentrations sometimes accompanied by the development of anti-drug antiboides (ADA) againts IFX. Blood concentrations of IFX are widely variable among IBD patients despite receiving the same weight-based dose. Several patient factors including laboratory parameters and severity of intestinal inflammation