Inflammatory bowel disease: Efficient remission maintenance is crucial for cost containment

Core Tip

Core tip: Cost-effective maintenance of remission of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) is a traditionally unsolved challenge for care-takers and budget supervisors. The newly released (biologic) formulations, though purported to act as disease terminators, have failed to pay back their initial cost. We have faced the issue by reappraising initial simple tenets and found the following: (1) usually, uncomplicated IBD rests in remission by using cheap traditional drugs, provided the indication is correct, and, chiefly, that adherence is tightly maintained. Non compliant IBD patients cost manifold the compliant ones, and are the main cause of budget distortion; and (2) third-party drugs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, e.g., should be avoided. A frozen steady-state is the regime to effectively maintain IBD.