Table 3.
Proposed strategies to optimize the efficacy of biological therapies in inflammatory bowel disease
| Strategy | Evidencea |
|---|---|
| Patient selection | |
| Early in disease course | B |
| Administration schedule | |
| Induction & maintenance | B |
| Concomitant therapy | |
| Thiopurines | B |
| Methotrexate | C |
| Therapeutic drug monitoring | |
| Reactive testing | B |
| Proactive testing | C |
| Biomarker monitoring | |
| Proactive CRP measurements | C |
aGrading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) Working Group 2007.
A = several high-quality studies; B = moderate quality: several studies with limitations; C = low quality: studies with many limitations; CRP = C-reactive protein