Abbott's Humira backed for ulcerative colitis

Rebecca Aris

pharmaphorum

A US panel voted in favour of wider use of Abbott Laboratories’ rheumatoid arthritis drug, Humira. The drug is already approved for six other conditions and now it has been backed to treat ulcerative colitis, a type of inflammatory bowel disease.

An advisory panel to the FDA voted 15 to 2 that the benefits of Humira outweighed the risks in treating ulcerative colitis. Although it is not required to do so the FDA usually follow panel recommendations and it is expected that a final decisions will be reached by the end of this year.

Should the FDA approve Humira for ulcerative colitis, it would become the first biologic drug that people could inject themselves.

Related news:

FDA panel backs Abbott's Humira for ulcerative colitis (Pharma Times)

Abbott's Humira gains FDA panel backing for wider use ? (the pharma letter)

Abbott’s Humira Backed by FDA Advisory Panel for Colitis (Bloomberg)