Andrographis paniculata extract (HMPL-004) for active ulcerative colitis.

"Guarantors of the article: William J. Sandborn, MD and Stephan R. Targan, MD.: Specific author contributions: William J. Sandborn and Stephan R. Targan served on the executive committee of study investigators, and worked with Vera Byers of Immunology Inc., Dean Rutty of Everest Clinical Research Services, Inc., and Tom Tang of Hutchison Medipharma Ltd. to design the study. All authors have been involved in analysis and interpretation of the data. William J. Sandborn drafted the manuscript. All authors have critically reviewed the manuscript draft for intellectual content, and approved the final version of the manuscript for publication: Financial support: This work was supported by a research grant from Hutchison Medipharma Ltd., Shanghai, China.: Potential competing interests: Dr Sandborn reports having received consulting fees from Abbott Laboratories, ActoGeniX NV, AGI Therapeutics, Inc., Alba Therapeutics Corporation, Albireo, Alfa Wasserman, Amgen, AM-Pharma BV, Anaphore, Astellas Pharma, Athersys, Inc., Atlantic Healthcare Limited, Axcan Pharma (now Aptalis), BioBalance Corporation, Boehringer-Ingelheim Inc, Bristol Meyers Squibb, Celegene, Celek Pharmaceuticals, Cellerix SL, Cerimon Pharmaceuticals, ChemoCentryx, CoMentis, Cosmo Technologies, Coronado Biosciences, Cytokine Pharmasciences, Eagle Pharmaceuticals, Eisai Medical Research Inc., Elan Pharmaceuticals, EnGene, Inc., Eli Lilly, Enteromedics, Exagen Diagnostics, Inc., Ferring Pharmaceuticals, Flexion Therapeutics, Inc., Funxional Therapeutics Limited, Genzyme Corporation, Genentech (now Roche), Gilead Sciences, Given Imaging, Glaxo Smith Kline, Human Genome Sciences, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (previously Microbia Inc.), Janssen (previously Centocor), KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Lycera Corporation, Meda Pharmaceuticals (previously Alaven Pharmaceuticals), Merck Research Laboratories, MerckSerono, Millennium Pharmaceuticals (subsequently merged with Takeda), Nisshin Kyorin Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd., Novo Nordisk A/S, NPS Pharmaceuticals, Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc., PDL Biopharma, Pfizer, Procter and Gamble, Prometheus Laboratories, ProtAb Limited, Purgenesis Technologies, Inc., Receptos, Relypsa, Inc., Salient Pharmaceuticals, Salix Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Santarus, Schering Plough Corporation (acquired by Merck), Shire Pharmaceuticals, Sigmoid Pharma Limited, Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (a GSK company), S.L.A. Pharma (UK) Limited, Targacept, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Therakos, Tillotts Pharma AG (acquired by Zeria Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.), TxCell SA, UCB Pharma, Viamet Pharmaceuticals, Vascular Biogenics Limited (VBL), Warner Chilcott UK Limited, Wyeth (now Pfizer). He has received lecture fees from Abbott Laboratories, Bristol Meyers Squibb, and Janssen (previously Centocor). He has received research support from Abbott Laboratories, Bristol Meyers Squibb, Genentech, Glaxo Smith Kline, Janssen (previously Centocor), Millennium Pharmaceuticals (now Takeda), Novartis, Pfizer, Procter and Gamble Pharmaceuticals, Shire Pharmaceuticals, and UCB Pharma. Dr Targan reports having received consulting fees from Amgen, Biogen, Esai, GSK, Hutchison Medipharma, Lycera, Merck, Prometheus, Symbiotix, Takeda Pharmaceutical and Zyngenia. In addition, he reports having received research and meeting/travel support from Hutchison Medipharma. He also reports having received a grant for researching the mechanism of action for the drug published in this paper from Hutchison Medipharma. Dr Byers reports having received the following from Hutchison Medipharma: support for travel to meetings for the study and other purposes, receiving fees for review activity related to data monitoring and analysis, and for writing and reviewing the manuscript. Mr. Rutty reports having received the following from Hutchison Medipharma: support for travel to meetings for the study and other purposes, receiving fees for review activity related to data monitoring and analysis, and for writing and reviewing the manuscript. In addition, he reports Board membership for Steba Biotech SA and reports consulting for the following companies: Schering Corporation, Roche, Methylgene, Steba Biotech SA, Aderans Research Institute Inc., Stem Cell Theraputics, Genentech, Pearly Therapeutics, Sundise Chinese Medicine Technology Development Corp., Endocyte, Inc, and Generon Corporation Ltd. Mr Rutty is an employee of Everest Clinical Research Services Inc. Dr Tang reports being an employee of Hutchison Medipharma at the time of the clinical trial described herein and during the drafting of this manuscript. He is currently an employee of Generon (Shanghai). Dr Mu reports being an employee of Hutchison Medipharma. Dr Zhang reports being an employee of Hutchison Medipharma."

"Financial support : This work was supported by a research grant from Hutchison Medipharma Ltd., Shanghai, China."