Prospective, Multicenter Cohort Study on Primary Biliary Cholangitis

Primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) is a chronic autoimmune cholestatic liver disease. The course of the disease is characterized by a slow destruction of bile ducts, and progressive cholestasis. Prognosis depends on the development of cirrhosis and its complications. Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) has been established as standard therapy for PBC and improves patients' long-term outcome. However, UDCA is not a uniformly effective drug, and the prognosis of PBC patients insufficiently responding to treatment is markedly worse. For patients with suboptimal treatment response to UDCA obeticholic acid (OCA) as newly approved medication (OCALIVA®) is available as second line treatment.

Due to the low prevalence and the slowly progressive course of the disease it is very difficult to investigate the prognosis of subgroups of PBC patients or to evaluate the effectivness of therapeutic interventions on clinical outcomes. Therefore, several national or international registries (UK-PBC Consortium or the Global PBC Study Group) were founded to better characterize the clinical course of PBC patients.

Since in Germany a registry for PBC does not exist, the German PBC Cohort is being implemented as observational study to collect data on treatment progress and success in clinical routine that reflects real world conditions in Germany as closely as possible. The effectiveness and safety/tolerability of PBC treatment options (UDCA as standard therapy and second-line treatment options like OCALIVA in case of inadequate UDCA treatment response) will be evaluated.

In approximatly 40 sites in Germany routine data is collected. There are no specifications for the diagnosis, therapy and monitoring of the PBC patients. The documentation of the routine data is carried out alongside with guideline recommended treatment intervals of the patients.

Furthermore, a critical criterion for the German PBC Cohort study is the involvement of a sufficient number of gastroenterology specialized practices and outpatient clinics that have consciously not been selected based on the strict specifications of a clinical trial and which provide routine treatment for PBC patients. In addition, patient access is designed to be open. Data will be collected on patient groups that represent a majority of the PBC patients in Germany, but who are not being investigated in clinical trials.