Ulcerative colitis causes ongoing inflammation and ulcers in the colon and rectum, affecting about 1 in 200 Americans. Treatment aims to quiet inflammation, heal the intestinal lining, and prevent flares. Options range from anti-inflammatory drugs to immune-suppressing pills and infusions, with surgery sometimes needed for severe disease.
What's actually going on in research
Trials are testing oral drugs that block specific immune signals (JAK inhibitors, S1P modulators), biologics targeting new inflammatory pathways, and fecal microbiota transplant to restore healthy gut bacteria. Researchers are also studying earlier use of advanced treatments and better ways to predict who will respond to which drug.
JAK inhibitors
Pills like tofacitinib and upadacitinib block enzymes that drive inflammation inside immune cells. They work quickly for many people and offer an alternative to injections and infusions.
Microbiome therapies
Fecal transplant and engineered bacterial consortia are being tested to reset the gut microbiome. Early results suggest they may induce remission in some people with ulcerative colitis.
Advanced biologics
New monoclonal antibodies target interleukin-23, a protein that drives intestinal inflammation. Some trials combine biologics with other immune therapies to deepen remission.
What to know before you search
Eligibility typically depends on disease severity, extent of colon involvement, prior biologic use, and whether you're currently flaring or in remission.
What types of trials are currently open
- Induction trials — Testing new drugs or combinations to quickly calm active inflammation and achieve remission within weeks to months.
- Maintenance trials — Studying how well treatments keep people in remission once inflammation is controlled, often lasting a year or more.
- Biologic trials — Testing infusions or injections that block specific inflammatory proteins like TNF-alpha or interleukin-23.
- Microbiome trials — Studying fecal transplant or live bacterial products to restore healthy gut flora and reduce inflammation.
- Surgery and outcomes studies — Following people who undergo colectomy or pouch surgery to understand long-term quality of life and complications.
Recently added Ulcerative Colitis trials
Take a targeted probiotic designed for bowel inflammation
Probiotics are live microorganisms that provide health benefits when consumed in sufficient amounts. Traditional probiotics, mainly from the Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium genera, originate from fermented foods or the human gut and are widely used in supplements. Although considered safe and easy to produce, they are not specifically designed to treat diseases, and no official health claims have been approved by EFSA. Advances in microbiome research have led to the discovery of Next-Generation Probiotics (NGPs), which are newly identified gut microbes associated with health and offer promising therapeutic potential despite lacking a long history of safe use.
Donate a tissue sample to help validate a new bowel inflammation test
In view of the increasing evidence of the importance of mucosal healing as a combination of endoscopic and histologic healing, and the complexity and lack of complete agreement of the evaluation of histologic healing in IBD, the aim of this study will be to evaluate the accuracy of a new methodology, the immunostaining for Claudine 2 as compared to others standard well-accepted scoring for histologic activity in IBD. The aim is compare the accuracy of this methodology and in addition the correlation with outcomes (i.e. relapse, hospitalization, surgery).
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