Current and Future Status of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring in the Treatment of IBD.

Abstract

Although tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-antagonists are highly effective agents for the treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), up to 40 % of patients ultimately lose response. As a result of the limited availability of treatment options, empiric dose escalation or switching of TNF-antagonists have evolved as strategies to regain response. Recently, therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) (measurement of serum drug and antidrug antibody concentrations) has emerged to facilitate informed decision-making in patients with secondary loss of response to a TNF-antagonist. The evidence supporting the use of TDM in clinical practice and future applications of this approach will be discussed.