Janssen reports positive data from Simponi ulcerative colitis trial

Janssen has reported positive new clinical data from a phase III trial of Simponi, showing the drug's efficacy against moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis.

The treatment was shown to induce a clinical response among more than 50 percent of adult patients who had previously failed treatment with or were intolerant to conventional agents at week six, thus meeting the primary endpoint of the trial.

Significant benefits were demonstrated by Simponi compared to placebo, including clinical remission and mucosal healing rates, plus improvements in health-related quality of life.

Professor William Sandborn, chief of the gastroenterology division at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, said: "Therapeutic options for patients living with moderate to severe forms of ulcerative colitis … are quite limited today, which is particularly challenging in managing a disease that primarily affects a younger, active patient population."

Simponi was discovered and developed by Janssen, but is distributed in Europe, Russia and Turkey by the Merck Sharpe and Dohme group.

This new data comes in the same week that Janssen published positive phase III trial results for Nucynta ER, showing its pain relief benefits for diabetic peripheral neuropathy patients.