World IBD Day: a call to arms

It’s World IBD Day and this is my call to arms.

Today, I’m asking our global IBD community—patients, clinicians, researchers, industry partners, tech innovators and policy-makers—to rally around three concrete, achievable goals.

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1️⃣ Implement what we already know works—for everyone, everywhere

We’ve learned a vast amount in the past 30–40 years. We have effective therapies and proven strategies; now we must deliver them universally. That means:

• Timely diagnosis – slash diagnostic delay and the avoidable complications that flow from it.

• Early, optimal treatment – start the right therapy, at the right dose, as soon as possible.

• Tight monitoring → fast action – measure what matters (symptoms, biomarkers, imaging) and act on the results.

• No half-measures – drop ineffective regimens and lean into drugs and strategies that heal mucosa, prevent flares, reduce surgery and preserve mental health.

• Equity of access – tackle global disparities in healthcare infrastructure, drug availability and cost.

• Relentless education – empower patients and up-skill every practitioner who touches IBD care.

If the only thing we achieved was to implement this playbook worldwide, outcomes would be transformed: fewer flares, fewer hospitalisations, fewer resections, better quality of life.

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2️⃣ Do all of that better

To refine every step—diagnosis, treatment, monitoring—we need the full weight of modern science and technology:

• Share the knowledge – liberate the brilliant basic and translational science that’s currently hiding in PDFs and behind paywalls.

• Turbo-charge the pipeline – our phase III pipeline is healthy; phase II is bursting. But we must rethink how we run trials: less placebo, less duplication, smarter endpoints and faster execution.

• Harness big data + AI – integrate electronic health records, multi-omics and real-world evidence to guide therapy in real time.

• Global collaboration – academia, pharma, med-tech, policy and patients pulling in the same direction, with funding that matches the ambition.

Delivered well, the next 5–10 years will bring more targeted combinations, fewer side-effects and friction-free, passive monitoring that lets people get on with their lives.

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3️⃣ Prediction, prevention & cure

The long game:

1. Predict the course after diagnosis

   • Who will have aggressive vs. quiescent disease?

   • Which drug will work for this person, now?

   • When is the next flare coming—and can we head it off?

2. Predict IBD before it starts

   • Identify at-risk relatives, but also the vast number who will develop IBD without family history—especially in rapidly industrialising regions of Asia and Africa, where tomorrow’s IBD burden will be greatest.

3. Prevent and intercept

   • Population-level: improve diet quality, curb unnecessary antibiotics, protect the microbiome.

   • High-risk individuals: short-term interception with repurposed drugs—we may have proof-of-concept within a few years.

And, yes, cure remains the end-goal. A realistic roadmap starts with rock-solid prediction and effective prevention.

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The call to arms

1. Do what we know works, now—and do it for every person with IBD, everywhere in the world.

2. Do all of it better—through coordinated research, smart funding and flawless delivery.

3. Push hard on prediction, prevention and cure.

Some of this we can execute today. Some we’re already building. Some will mature with time. Taken together, it’s a message of hope.

To every patient: may you get the care you need, when you need it.
To every clinician, nurse, dietitian and scientist: thank you—you’re moving the field forward daily.
To industry, big tech and society at large: pay close attention to IBD. We need your investment, your ingenuity, your urgency.

World IBD Day is our moment to double down. Let’s get to work.

— Charlie

📺 Watch the companion vlog on my YouTube channel.