Real‐world experience with Curcumin–QingDai combination for patients with active ulcerative colitis: A retrospective multicentre cohort study

Summary Background Curcumin and QingDai (QD, Indigo) have been shown to be effective for treating active ulcerative colitis (UC). Aim To evaluate the real‐world experience with the Curcumin–QingDai (CurQD) herbal combination to induce remission in active UC. Methods A retrospec‑tive multicentre adult cohort study from five tertiary academic centres (2018–2022). Active UC was defined as a Simple Clinical Colitis Activity Index (SCCAI) ≥ 3. Patients were induced by CurQD. The primary outcome was clinical remission at weeks 8–12, defined as SCCAI ≤2 and a decrease ≥3 points from baseline. Secondary outcomes were clinical response (SCCAI decrease ≥3 points), corticosteroid‐free remission, faecal calprotectin (FC) response (reduction ≥50%), FC normalisation (FC ≤100 μg/g for patients with FC ≥300 μg/g at baseline), and safety. All outcomes were analysed for patients who were maintaining stable treatment. Results Eighty‐eight patients were included; 50% were biologics/small molecules experienced, and 36.5% received ≥2 biologics/small molecules. Clinical remission was achieved in 41 (46.5%), and clinical response in 53 (60.2%). Median SCCAI decreased from 7 (IQR:5–9) to 2 (IQR:1–3); p < 0.0001. Of the 26 patients on corticosteroids at baseline, seven achieved corticosteroid‐free remission. Among 43 biologics/small molecules experienced patients, clinical remission was achieved in 39.5% and clinical response in 58.1%. FC normalisation and response were achieved in 17/29 and 27/33, respectively. Median FC decreased from 1000 μg/g (IQR:392–2772) at baseline to 75 μg/g (IQR:12–136) at the end of inductions ( n = 30 patients with paired samples); p < 0.0001. No overt safety signals emerged. Conclusion In this real‐world cohort, CurQD effectively induced clinical and biomarker remission in patients with active UC, including patients who were biologics/small molecules experienced.