Abbott’s Humira decision ‘highlights need for new therapies’

Abbott Laboratories has said that the decision to approve its HUMIRA (adalimumab) treatment for Crohn’s disease has highlighted the need for new therapies for “unmet needs”.

The company states that HUMIRA is “the only full human monoclonal antibody” that has been approved for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondytis.

Abbott suggests that approvals for the drug have constituted milestones in its history as a pharmaceutical manufacturer and that the FDA’s announcement that it can now be used for the treatment for Crohn’s disease in the US.

Over a million people in Europe and North America are currently affected from the inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal track, with no current medical or surgical cure for it.

This led Eugene Sun, managing director and vice president of pharmaceutical clinical development at Abbott, to comment “Patients who have failed infliximab have limited treatment options and this decision underscores the need for new therapies that address unmet medical needs.”

HUMIRA, resembling antibodies normally found in the body, functions by blocking tumour necrosis factor alpha. This is a protein that is important in the inflammatory response of autoimmune diseases.

According to Abbott, HUMIRA has been granted approval in 67 countries to date and is used to treat 160,000 people worldwide, with clinical trials underway to determine its efficacy in the treatment of other autoimmune diseases.