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People who suffer from Crohn's disease or colitis might have some relief soon according to two new findings. Crohn's disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease that afflicts any part of the gastrointestinal tract, which extends from the mouth to the anus. Symptoms generally include diarrhea, abdominal pain, vomiting and in some cases, anemia, skin rashes and tiredness. Colitis is a condition that involves inflammation of the colon with symptoms ranging from diarrhea and cramping to fatigue and a loss of appetite. Both of these conditions can be difficult to deal with. However, according to new clinical trials headed by a team of researchers, a new treatment option might soon be available to alleviate the conditions.

In this study, the research team headed two clinical trials for Vedolizumab, an intravenous antibody medication. Vedolizumab is created by Takeda Laboratory, a Japanese pharmaceutical company, who also funded the trials.  The trials took place in 34 countries and enlisted 895 colitis patients and 1,115 patients with Crohn's disease. The patients were between the ages of 18 and 80. All of the patients were treated for one year and experienced effects after six weeks. The drug works by prohibiting the body's immune system from releasing cytokines, which are proteins that trigger inflammation. Once the inflammation starts, it can case diarrhea and hurt the tissues in the small intestine and colon. The researchers discovered that the medicine led to remission.

"The two trials showed highly encouraging results for patients suffering from moderate to severe Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis when conventional therapy such as steroids, immune suppressive drugs [failed]," the lead investigator of one of the trials, William Sandborn from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine said according to FOX News. "These latest findings will potentially lead to a new drug therapy that will improve a patient's overall lifestyle."

In the clinical trials, the researchers found that Vedolizumab allowed patients to stop taking prednisone, which is a drug that is currently used to treat Crohn's disease and colitis and has ample side effects. The drug allowed patients to skip steroids and immunosuppressive medications that often have the risk factor of infection. The drug was also capable of helping patients avoid the side effects, such as weight gain, nausea and headaches, from other treatment options.

Due to the successes of the trials, Takeda has now asked U.S. and European drug regulators to consider putting vedolizumab on the market. The two trials, "Vedolizumab as Induction and Maintenance Therapy for Ulcerative Colitis" and "Vedolizumab as Induction and Maintenance Therapy for Crohn's Disease" were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.