VDZ is given at week 0, week 2 and week 6 (induction) and upon good clinical response at week 14, treatment is continued by infusions every 8 weeks (maintenance). The exposure-efficacy relationships of VDZ evaluated in GEMINI 1 revealed a positive exposure-response relationship for clinical remission, clinical response, and mucosal healing for VDZ induction therapy in UC. VDZ trough concentration measurements during or shortly after induction may thus be used to identify undertreated patients.
It has been demonstrated that higher VDZ concentrations are associated with deep remission in patients with UC on maintenance therapy. Thus, regularly checking VDZ trough concentrations during maintenance therapy may be useful to evaluate the VDZ treatment schedule.