Beneficial and Harmful Effects of Azathioprine and Allopurinol Versus Standard Azathioprine Therapy for Patients With Ulcerative Colitis

Summary

Azathioprine is considered first line immunomodulatory therapy for patients with ulcerative colitis. Up to 50% are treatment failures or experience adverse events leading to treatment withdrawal. Recent evidence suggests that the combination of allopurinol and low dose azathioprine increases the proportion of treatment responders and reduce the risk of adverse events. Objectives: To evaluate the beneficial and harmful effects of low dose azathioprine and allopurinol versus standard azathioprine monotherapy in patients with ulcerative colitis.

Timeline

Start

2016-12-14

Primary completion

2019-11-14

Completion

2019-12-14

Publications

• Hasskamp J, Meinhardt C, Patton PH, Timmer A. Azathioprine and 6-mercaptopurine for maintenance of remission in ulcerative colitis. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2025 Feb 27;2(2):CD000478. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD000478.pub5.
• Kiszka-Kanowitz M, Theede K, Thomsen SB, Bjerrum JT, Brynskov J, Gottschalck IB, Akimenko E, Hilsted KL, Neumann A, Wildt S, Larsen L, Munk JK, Ibsen PH, Janjua HGR, Gluud LL, Mertz-Nielsen A. Low-dose azathioprine and allopurinol versus azathioprine monotherapy in patients with ulcerative colitis (AAUC): An investigator-initiated, open, multicenter, parallel-arm, randomised controlled trial. EClinicalMedicine. 2022 Mar 5;45:101332. doi: 10.1016/j.eclinm.2022.101332. eCollection 2022 Mar.

Drugs

Indications