Takeda reports positive data from Crohn’s disease drug trial

Takeda has reported positive data from a clinical trial of vedolizumab, its new therapy for moderate to severely active Crohn's disease.

Top-line results from the international, randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind Gemini II study demonstrated the benefits the drug can offer to patients who have previously failed to respond to at least one conventional therapy.

Following a year of treatment, patients receiving vedolizumab experienced statistically significant improvements in rates of clinical remission, thus meeting the primary endpoint of the trial.

The data from Gemini II could prove significant due to the lack of currently available options for sufferers of moderate to severely active forms of this disease.

Dr Asit Parikh, vice-president for gastrointestinal and genitourinary general medicine at Takeda, said: "We are very excited about the results of this pivotal study and the potential it may hold for patients."

Last month, the company was granted a recommendation from Europe's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use for approval of Rienso, a new treatment for chronic kidney disease patients.