ORIZZONTI in Medicina e Biologia: Novel Therapeutic approaches in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Scheduled for June 19, 2026 at 6:00 PM (Aula Magna), a new event in the Orizzonti in Medicina e Biologia series will take place. The guest speaker will be Raja Atreya, Professor of Translational Medicine at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) and the Universitätsklinikum Erlangen (UKER), who will deliver the lectio magistralis entitled “Novel Therapeutic Approaches in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases”.

Please find attached the event poster and the guest speaker’s CV.

Abstract

Medical treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) has greatly improved with the development of advanced therapies targeting an array of pivotal molecules or pathways that perpetuate the intestinal inflammatory reaction. Owing to the growing understanding of the immunopathogenesis of this progressive diseases, three classes of biological therapies (targeting TNF, IL-12 and IL-23, as well as α4β7 integrins), and two classes of small molecules (Janus kinase inhibitors and sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor modulators) have been approved for treatment. The rapid advent of these advanced therapies has led to improved outcomes, but therapeutic success rates are still far from optimal as remission rates have stalled in induction clinical trials and a substantial proportion of patients ultimately lose their response over time. The therapeutic efficacy of these advanced monotherapies has therefore plateaued, indicating a therapeutic ceiling and underscoring the need for innovative therapeutic approaches

Novel therapeutic strategies are therefore needed, and an exponential rise in the number of developed substances in late-stage clinical trial development has been noted. They should ideally be based on new-found mechanisms of action that are associated with higher efficacy rates and less risk of general immunosuppression. These agents should demonstrate efficacy not only in advanced therapy naive but also exposed patients. 

There has been increasing interest in the potential of advanced combination therapy (dual biologics or biologics and oral small-molecule drugs in combination) in IBD to overcome the apparent efficacy barrier observed with monotherapies. Given that multiple inflammatory pathways are simultaneously activated in the inflamed mucosa, blocking only one of them might not suffice to control inflammation in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Furthermore, there has been development of bispecific antibodies, that are designed to bind to two different targets. This dual-action capability enables multiple therapeutic mechanisms, from redirecting T cells to depletion of specific target cells or blocking multiple disease pathways at once. In addition, novel cellular immunotherapies are under development. 

In the lecture, promising new therapeutic approaches that are currently being tested in clinical trials in and may soon enrich our current therapeutic armamentarium will be presented. These encompass novel cytokine targets (e.g., TL1A), enhancers of micro-RNA (miR-124) and also novel cellular therapeutic approaches.