Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) announced data demonstrating more patients with moderately to severely active Crohn's disease treated with mirikizumab achieved histologic response at Week 52 compared to ustekinumab, regardless of prior biologic experience. VIVID-1 is the first Phase 3 study for any approved or investigational treatment in Crohn's disease to report histologic and combined histologic-endoscopic outcomes that were evaluated using a systematic assessment of five bowel segments (four colonic and one ileal) and strict definitions consistent with the recently published European Crohn's and Colitis (ECCO) position statement on mucosal histopathology. These results are being presented as an oral presentation at United European Gastroenterology (UEG) Week, held in Vienna, Austria from October 12-15.

Mirikizumab is an IL23p19 antagonist that selectively binds to the p19 subunit of IL-23 and inhibits its interaction with the IL-23 receptor. Inflammation due to the overactivation of the IL-23 pathway plays a critical role in pathogenesis of Crohn's disease, a chronic, inflammatory bowel disease associated with progressive bowel damage, disability and decreased health-related quality of life.

Crohn's disease inflammation occurs at the cellular level—defined as histologic inflammation—and persists even after treatment with standard of care therapies in up to one-quarter of patients with Crohn's disease despite evidence of endoscopic mucosal healing.