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What Should We Know about Drugs Levels and Therapeutic Drug Monitoring during Pregnancy and Breastfeeding in Inflammatory Bowel Disease under Biologic Therapy?
Barrau, M.; Roblin, X.; Andromaque, L.; Rozieres, A.; Faure, M.; Paul, S.; Nancey, S. What Should We Know about Drug Levels and Therapeutic Drug Monitoring during Pregnancy and Breastfeeding in Inflammatory Bowel Disease under Biologic Therapy? J. Clin. Med.2023, 12, 7495.
Barrau, M.; Roblin, X.; Andromaque, L.; Rozieres, A.; Faure, M.; Paul, S.; Nancey, S. What Should We Know about Drug Levels and Therapeutic Drug Monitoring during Pregnancy and Breastfeeding in Inflammatory Bowel Disease under Biologic Therapy? J. Clin. Med. 2023, 12, 7495.
Barrau, M.; Roblin, X.; Andromaque, L.; Rozieres, A.; Faure, M.; Paul, S.; Nancey, S. What Should We Know about Drug Levels and Therapeutic Drug Monitoring during Pregnancy and Breastfeeding in Inflammatory Bowel Disease under Biologic Therapy? J. Clin. Med.2023, 12, 7495.
Barrau, M.; Roblin, X.; Andromaque, L.; Rozieres, A.; Faure, M.; Paul, S.; Nancey, S. What Should We Know about Drug Levels and Therapeutic Drug Monitoring during Pregnancy and Breastfeeding in Inflammatory Bowel Disease under Biologic Therapy? J. Clin. Med. 2023, 12, 7495.
Abstract
The real long-term influences of in utero drug exposure in pregnant women on childhood development have yet to be fully determined and depend on the duration of in utero drug exposure and maternal drug levels. Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) during pregnancy may help limit fetal drug exposure while maintaining therapeutic drug levels in maternal blood. Most antibody therapies used in patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) are IgG molecules which are actively transported across the placenta, especially during the third trimester of the pregnancy. Here we propose an up to date clinical review to summarize the available findings of serum drug levels in maternal blood during pregnancy, in the blood cord, infants at delivery and in breast milk of patients with IBD treated with biologics. Conversely to adalimumab (ADA) levels, which are relatively stable during pregnancy, infliximab (IFX) drug clearance decreased significantly during the second and third trimesters, leading to increasing maternal IFX concentrations. As most guidelines recommend using live vaccines in infants at the age of one or earlier in case of negative serum drug levels in newborns, statistical models could help clinicians in making a decision to adjust the last dose of the biologic during pregnancy and to determine the optimal date to vaccinate. Altogether, data from the literature offers strong reassurance regarding the safety profile of anti-TNFα therapies during pregnancy not only for IBD patients who intend to conceive, but also for pregnant women and for the physicians taking care of these patients. ADA and IFX levels in breast milk are detectable but very low and therefore it is recommended to pursue breast feeding under anti-TNFα therapy. Our knowledge on ustekinumab or vedolizumab levels in pregnant women remains unclear and scarce. It is currently not recommended in patients with IBD in clinical practice. Therefore, TDM and proactive dose adjustment are not necessary during pregnancy since its impact for making a clinical decision have not yet been clearly demonstrated in routine practice. Overall, drug concentrations in the blood cord, the infant at birth and postpartum serum concentrations in infants, due to active placental drug transfer, may have a greater impact than the limited drug transfer in breast milk during lactation on the risk of infection and developmental outcomes. Ustekinumab and vedolizumab exposure during pregnancy and lactation are both considered low risk by the recent ECCO guidelines despite the limited data currently available.
Medicine and Pharmacology, Gastroenterology and Hepatology
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