Steroids

WHAT IS BUDESONIDE?

Budesonide (brand name;Entocort) is a steroid developed more recently with special features to reduce side effects. It has been designed to be broken down more completely by the liver, reducing the amount of steroid in the blood affecting the rest of the body. Budesonide is used for Crohn's disease (CD), especially for CD of the small intestine. 

While studies show budesonide is less effective than conventional oral steroids at treating flare-ups, it has the advantage of causing fewer side effects. Bone loss is reduced with budesonide, but not completely eliminated. Like other steroids, budesonide is not effective at maintaining remission in IBD longterm, and is not used in severe IBD.

A more recent version of budesonide has been developed, called budesonide-mmx (brand name; Cortiment). MMX is a special mechanism (in the capsule coating) for releasing the budesonide at a later stage in the gastrointestinal tract. This allows it to be more effectively delivered to the large intestine (colon). Budesonide-MMX is typically used for ulcerative colitis (UC), but can sometimes be used for CD of the colon as well. 

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