Vedolizumab (Entyvio) now available

Saw my specialist on Thursday (5/22/14). He told me that Entyvio has become available this week. Is anyone out there going to be starting on this? Does anyone know if there's new research on this risks with it?

My doc seemed pretty excited about it because it blocked the immune system from entering the colon. He feels that could work better than TNF inhibitors.

My concern would be the leukoencephalopathy risk. The last news I read stated it was suspected to be connected to a drug interaction, but no one was sure which drug. Would love to know if there's newer info about this?

That's a good point about insurance coverage. If your insurance doesn't pay for Humira or Remicade, they have a patient assistance program that provides it for free. Maybe they'll do that with Entyvio too?

We already have another thread on this that you may want to check out for more info.

But to answer your question about PML, it likely wont be an issue. It is believed that the risk of PML in Natalizumab comes from the fact that it binds to the alpha1/beta7 integrin (in addition to binding to the alpha4/beta7 integrin) while Vedolizumab binds only to the alpha4/beta7 integrin, which, as hateuc pointed out, is a receptor specific to gastrointestinal tissue

I am getting it done as part of a trial for another drug, but if I werent, then I think it would be worth doing. From what I was told by the study doctor, most adults have been exposed to the JC virus, but we have different levels of it in our systems. Determining how much you have is probably a good idea before starting vedolizumab if possible