Sargramostim trial

Australia's ABC News is reporting that use of cancer therapy drug Sargramostim in trials for Crohn's disease is showing good signs:

... Dr Graham Radford-Smith from the Royal Brisbane Hospital says the outlook is positive.

'The important things are that this drug is very safe, it's got a long track record, it's been around for a long time, there have not been any major safety issues,' he said.

'We're yet to see what happens in terms of efficacy and that's obviously critical in the drug being successful in the treatment of Crohn's disease.'

According to the Yahoo Health Drug Guide:

Sargramostim is used to increase white blood cells and decrease the risk of infection in conditions such as cancer, bone marrow transplant, and pre-chemotherapy blood cell collection.

The New England Journal of Medicine has the full report of another trial of Sargramostim for Crohn's disease. Though the report costs money to view, the quite detailed abstract is free to read. Its conclusion was interesting:

This study was negative for the primary end point, but findings for the secondary end points suggest that sargramostim therapy decreased disease severity and improved the quality of life in patients with active Crohn's disease.