P701 Evaluation of the effectiveness of vedolizumab in patients with Crohn's disease: a multicenter real-life study from Argentina

Background Vedolizumab (VDZ) is a gut-selective integrin inhibitor used to treat Crohn's disease (CD). Most of the information regarding real-life data on response to VDZ has been published from North America and Europe cohorts and there is scarce information from Latin America related to effectiveness of VDZ in patients with CD. The aims of this study were: i) to describe the clinical characteristics of patients with CD who received VDZ, ii) to know in which biologic line VDZ was indicated, and iii) to evaluate the clinical response at one year and the persistence of treatment during follow-up. Methods A retrospective multicenter study was conducted in 18 Argentinean centers. We included CD adult patients (age ≥18y) who started VDZ between 01/06/2015 and 31/10/2023 and completed at least VDZ induction. Baseline demographic characteristics, response at 12 months (m), need for optimization, and treatment persistence during follow-up were assessed. Logistic regression was used to evaluate predictors for response at 12m and treatment persistence. Results A total of 113 CD patients (57% male), mean age 52 years (range 18-87 years) were included. Colonic (47%) and ileal (29%) were the most frequent CD involvement. Inflammatory (68%) was the most frequent phenotype compared to stenosing (23%) and fistulizing (9%). Perianal involvement was present in 9% of patients. VDZ was indicated as first-line in 61 (54%) patients, second-line 31 (27.4%) patients, third line 17 (15%) patients, and fourth-line 4 (3.5%) patients. At 12 m of follow-up, clinical remission was observed in 37 (32.7%) patients and clinical response in 56 (49.6%) patients. Eighteen (15.9%) patients presented a lack of response/primary failure. Adverse effects leading to VDZ discontinuation prior to 12m occurred in 2 (1.8%) patients. Mean follow-up time in those patients that achieved clinical remission/response at 12m was 23 (SD 15) m. Thirty-five (37.6%) of those patients required dose optimization and 69 (74.2%) persisted on treatment during follow-up. Male sex (OR 2.93, 95%CI 1.04-8.26) and inflammatory phenotype (OR 5.37, 95%CI 1.16-24.9) were independent predictors for clinical response/remission at 12m. VDZ in first-line (OR 3, 95%CI 1.05-8.52) and inflammatory phenotype (OR 2.96, 95%CI 1.07-8.22) were independent predictors for treatment persistence in those patients that achieved clinical remission/response at 12m. Conclusion This is the first real-life multicenter study on the effectiveness of VZD in CD in Argentina and one of the largest in Latin America. VDZ showed an effective therapeutic option in a real-life setting. A higher efficacy was observed in males, inflammatory phenotype and in biologic-naïve patients.