Dive Brief:

  • An experimental immunology drug from Eli Lilly has scored positive data in a mid-stage study of Crohn’s disease patients.
  • The study enrolled 180 participants, who received either placebo or one of three doses of Lilly’s mirikizumab. After 12 weeks of treatment, all three doses of mirikizumab significantly outperformed placebo on the study’s primary endpoint, which was a 50% or greater reduction in the severity of each patient’s Crohn’s disease.
  • Specifically, 26% of the 200 mg group, 38% of the 600 mg group, and 44% of the 1,000 mg group achieved a response, versus 11% of the placebo arm. Five of the patients receiving mirikizumab had at least one serious adverse event, while 81 — or 64% — had a treatment emergent adverse event during the trial’s induction phase. Lilly intends to push mirikizumab into late-stage testing for Crohn’s disease.