[ECCO 2023]
Milan Lukas, Professor at Charles University, Czech Republic
"Contributing to Improved Patient Accessibility"
"Effective in Treatment Including Maintaining Drug Concentration"

On the 2nd (local time), at the Celltrion Healthcare booth set up at the European Crohn's and Colitis Organisation (ECCO 2023) held at the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, Professor Milan Lukas from Charles University in the Czech Republic and Iscare Hospital is giving a presentation on Remsima SC during the 'Meet the Experts' event.
Photo by Chunhee Lee

"Infliximab is an old but still the best ingredient. Especially 'RemsimaSC,' which is effective in treating patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), will continue to attract attention in the future considering the increasing number of related patients."

On the 3rd (local time), at the European Crohn's and Colitis Organisation (ECCO 2023) held at the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, Professor Milan Lukas of Charles University in the Czech Republic and Iscare Hospital evaluated Celltrion's subcutaneous (SC) formulation autoimmune disease treatment RemsimaSC (generic name infliximab) in this way. Professor Lukas has been closely watching and prescribing Remsima since it was first launched in Europe as an intravenous (IV) formulation in 2013. He recalled, "I was happy that patient accessibility greatly improved when Remsima received approval from the European Medicines Agency (EMA)." He added, "Especially in middle- and low-income countries like the Czech Republic, (biosimilars) can provide significant cost benefits," emphasizing, "It has particularly opened up access for many IBD patients."

Inflammation is an immune response that our body initiates to protect itself from invading external substances, but when the immune system's balance is disrupted, 'autoimmune diseases' occur, attacking the body itself rather than external substances. When autoimmune diseases occur in the digestive system, IBD such as Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) develop. IBD is considered a disease that significantly lowers quality of life by causing symptoms ranging from diarrhea to the formation of holes in the colon or anus. However, once it develops, it is incurable and requires continuous inflammation management treatment, which inevitably leads to a high financial burden for patients.

Regarding this, Professor Lukas said, "With the launch of effective treatments at reasonable prices, RemsimaIV and RemsimaSC, more patients now have various treatment options," adding, "Especially RemsimaSC maintains a high and stable blood drug concentration, making it effective for IBD treatment." He also predicted, "IBD patients are continuously increasing mainly in Western countries, and considering the importance of long-term therapy, RemsimaSC, which offers convenience and excellent therapeutic effects, will continue to attract attention."

On the 2nd (local time), at the Celltrion Healthcare booth set up at the European Crohn's and Colitis Organisation (ECCO 2023) held at the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, Professor Milan Lukas of Charles University in the Czech Republic and Iscare Hospital gave a presentation on Remsima SC during the 'Meet the Experts' event. According to Celltrion Healthcare, about 170 people gathered that day to listen attentively to Professor Lukas's presentation.
[Photo by Lee Chunhee]

At this ECCO, Professor Lukas also presented real-world treatment data (RWD) on RemsimaSC. On that day, he introduced what treatments are possible and effective with RemsimaSC during the symposium titled 'Exploring the Treatment Sequence of IBD Using Infliximab SC' and the previous day's 'Meet the Expert' event.

The 'Meet the Expert' event held at the Celltrion Healthcare booth at the ECCO venue attracted about 170 people, demonstrating high interest in RemsimaSC. Choi Byung-seo, Head of Marketing at Celltrion Healthcare, said, "Following Professor Lukas's presentation, even more people gathered for Professor Franco Scaldaferri's presentation the next day," adding, "Usually, many people do not gather for booth presentations, so this large turnout is exceptional."

On the 3rd (local time), at a symposium held at the European Crohn's and Colitis Organisation (ECCO 2023) at the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, Milan Lukas, a professor at Charles University in the Czech Republic and Iscare Hospital, gave a presentation on Remsima SC. According to Celltrion Healthcare, 400 people attended the event, showing great interest in Remsima SC.
[Photo by Lee Chunhee]

About 400 people gathered at the symposium that day, showing great interest in presentations by Professor Lukas and Professor Walter Reinisch of the Medical University of Vienna, Austria. In the symposium presentation titled 'Treatment Methods Using Infliximab SC Formulation for Refractory IBD Patients,' Professor Lukas emphasized that RemsimaSC could be a groundbreaking alternative for refractory patients who did not respond to other drugs.

He explained this by presenting results of prescribing RemsimaSC to Crohn's disease patients who failed other biological drug treatments. According to this study conducted up to 30 weeks, RemsimaSC showed advantages in pharmacokinetics with higher trough levels and in immunogenicity with fewer anti-drug antibodies (ADA) formed. Regarding this, Professor Lukas concluded in his presentation, "There are unmet needs especially for refractory IBD patients," adding, "RemsimaSC could be a good treatment option for Crohn's disease patients with previous anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) treatment failure." However, he noted that "the number of cases is small, so further research is needed."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.