Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Ontamalimab, a fully-human monoclonal antibody targeting MAdCAM-1, induced remission in patients with moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis [UC] in the TURANDOT study. We aimed to assess long-term safety, tolerability, and efficacy of ontamalimab in TURANDOT II. METHODS: TURANDOT II was a phase 2, multicentre, open-label [OL] study in patients with moderate-to-severe UC who completed TURANDOT on placebo or ontamalimab (NCT01771809). Patients were randomised to 75 mg or 225 mg ontamalimab every 4 weeks for 72 weeks [OL1]. The dosage could be increased to 225 mg from Week 8 at the investigator's discretion. All patients then received 75 mg every 4 weeks for 72 weeks [OL2], followed by 6-month safety follow-up. The primary objective was safety, measured by adverse events [AEs], serious AEs [SAEs], and AEs leading to withdrawal. Mucosal healing [MH; centrally read endoscopy] was assessed. RESULTS: Of 330 patients, 180 completed OL1; 94 escalated to 225 mg; 127 completed OL2. Overall, 36.1% experienced drug-related AEs. The most common SAE [10.0%] was worsening/ongoing UC; 5.5% of patients had serious infections, the most common being gastroenteritis [0.9%]. One death and four cancers [all unrelated to ontamalimab] occurred. No PML [progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy]/lymphoproliferative disorders occurred. Geometric mean high-sensitivity C-reactive protein [hsCRP] and faecal calprotectin decreased across OL1 in both dose groups. The proportion of patients assigned to placebo in TURANDOT achieving MH increased from 8.8% [6/68] at baseline to 35.3% at Week 16 [24/68; non-responder imputation]. The corresponding increase in the ontamalimab group was from 23.3% [61/262] to 26.7% [70/262]. CONCLUSIONS: Ontamalimab was well tolerated up to 144 weeks in patients with moderate-to-severe UC, with good safety and efficacy.