We are glad to announce that the Project ‘Comparison of ustekinumab, infliximab and COMBinatiOn therapy in moderately-to-severely active Ulcerative Colitis – the head-to-head COMBO-UC trial’ has been recommended for funding under the Competition ABM/2022/3 (Competition for non-commercial clinical trials or research experiments – head to head studies).

Our Competition proposal received 131 points, was granted funding of nearly PLN 20 million and was ranked fifth in the ranking among 49 of all evaluated Proposals.

Medical University of Lodz ins the Project Leader of COMBO-UC trial in Consortium with:

• Independent Public Healthcare Centre Norbert Barlicki University Hospital No 1 Medical University of Lodz,
• Karol Marcinkowski Medical University of Poznan,
• Heliodor Święcicki University Hospital Karol Marcinkowski Medical University of Poznan.

The clinical trial includes ulcerative colitis patients in whom conventional therapy failure left no other option but the biologic monotherapy at standard treatment. However, the clinical remission rate in such cases is still unsatisfactory so the project aim is to combine two biologic agents in the therapy i.e. NInfliximab: IFX and Ustekinumab: UST.

The trial design is based on a three-arm parallel-group, randomized head-to-head trial with one experimental group (IFX + UST) and two control groups (IFX or UST).

The patient recruitment is scheduled in 8 regions of Poland, in highly specialised gastroenterology centres, with the target study group reaching 164 patients.

Renata Talar-WojnarowskaMD PhD prof. of MUL is the Main Researcher in the Project.

Congratulations and thanks to the entire team that worked for this success at the stage of designing the study and preparing the Competition Application, and in particular to: Prof. Renata Talar – Wojnarowska, Dr. Adam Fabisiak, Dr. Hubert Zatorski, and on behalf of CWBK: Prof. Wojciech Fendler, Dr. Joanna Połowinczak – Przybyłek, Małgorzata Kowalczyk, Katarzyna Płoszka and Karolina Słoczyńska from the Projects Department.