Researchers at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) NHS Trust have successfully recruited the first patient in the UK to a study testing a drug to treat Crohn’s Disease.

The INTREPID study will see participants with the condition, which results in parts of the digestive system becoming inflamed, trial the impact of brazikumab.

Biologic drugs, which target specific parts of the immune system to treat disease, have improved the lives of patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

For some patients, however, these drugs gradually lose effect. Patients then need to be prescribed other biologics that have a different effect in the hope that response will be restored.

UHCW Consultant Gastroenterologist, Professor Chuka Nwokolo, said: “The Gastroenterology department at UHCW has a long-term commitment to leading recruitment into trials of new biologic agents and other gastro-intestinal drugs.

“Like all modern trials of biologic drugs, this is a complex study and requires the attention to detail and trial experience that we have accumulated at UHCW in the last 25 years.”

The study will run at 13 other NHS Trusts around the UK and will be completed by March 2027.

Professor Matthew Brookes, Clinical Director of the NIHR Clinical Research Network West Midlands, said: “The chronic nature of inflammatory bowel disease and declining effectiveness of biologics means that the search for new biologic drugs must continue until more effective small molecules become available.

“Congratulations to the team at UHCW on being the first to recruit to this important study in the UK.”

If you are interested in finding out more about taking part in this study, visit the Be Part of Research website.