New non-anti-TNF-α biological therapies for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease

Abstract

While blockade of the tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) pathway had been a major advancement for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), several additional therapeutic approaches have since been explored. Searching for novel therapeutics is important because nearly 50% of IBD patients have a poor primary response to anti-TNF agents or lose response within 12 months of therapy. Also, with better understanding of the pathophysiology of IBD, targeting alternate mechanisms of etiopathogenesis has yielded several effective medications, which may better individualize and personalize therapy in IBD. This chapter will discuss the major non-anti-TNF-α agents in the pipeline that are currently undergoing evaluation to effectively and safely treat patients with IBD.