Efficacy and safety of filgotinib in the treatment of ulcerative colitis with a focus on rapid and sustained efficacy: a narrative review

The rising incidence of ulcerative colitis (UC) globally highlights the necessity for treatment strategies that extend beyond symptom control to include inducing and maintaining remission, achieving biochemical and endoscopic remission, and restoring quality of life. Janus kinase inhibitors, such as filgotinib (FIL), show promise in treating UC. This review consolidates evidence on FIL in treating UC from the SELECTION and SELECTIONLTE trials, and real-world studies. Overall, FIL demonstrated rapid symptom relief (e.g., improved rectal bleeding and stool frequency) within 7 days and durable efficacy (e.g., clinical remission, Mayo Clinic Score response) up to 4 years. Improvements in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and reduced corticosteroid dependency were also observed. The 200 mg dose generally elicited greater efficacy responses than the 100 mg dose, and hence may potentially be a more suitable choice for optimizing treatment outcomes. Although FIL may be an effective long-term treatment option regardless of prior biologic experience, biologic-naive patients may experience greater sustained clinical improvements. Safety outcomes indicated that FIL was well tolerated with no unexpected safety signals in SELECTION and SELECTIONLTE. These findings support FIL's potential as a robust therapeutic option for UC, due to its acceptable safety profile and benefits across clinical and HRQoL outcomes.