A real-world study of healthcare resource utilization and costs in patients with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis initiating ustekinumab treatment via Johnson & Johnson's BIOADVANCE program.

BACKGROUND: Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs), including Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), are increasingly prevalent. Ustekinumab (UST), a biologic therapy, has shown efficacy in treating CD and UC, but its real-world impact is less clear. This study assessed all-cause and IBD-specific healthcare resource utilization (HCRU) and costs, excluding medication costs, among patients with CD and UC initiated on UST.

METHODS: This retrospective cohort study in Ontario, Canada included patients initiating UST between January 2017 and September 2022. Patients were identified through the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) BIOADVANCE® patient support program and deterministically linked to ICES databases. Outcomes were compared between 1 year pre-initiation of therapy and each post-initiation year (up to 4 years). Results were reported for patients who were persistent on UST at each year of the analysis period, patients who were persistent vs. discontinued UST for the duration of Year 1, and patients who were biologic-naïve versus bio-experienced prior to index.

RESULTS: The study cohort included 2279 patients with CD and 626 patients with UC. UST initiation was associated with significant reductions (P < .001) in the number of all-cause HCRU events in each year of follow-up, including for CD patients who were biologic-naïve and persistent on UST. Non-medication costs were lower for both CD and UC patients in all years, and significant in Years 1-3 for CD and Year 2 for UC patients.

CONCLUSIONS: In CD and UC patients, all-cause and IBD-specific HCRU and non-medication healthcare costs were lower in years following UST initiation.