Healthcare companies are spending big on developing treatments for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which consists of either Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis (UC), or both. The lure for IBD treatments is that there's no known cure for IBD, and it affects as many as 1.6 million people in the U.S., according to data from Johns Hopkins Medicine.

The autoimmune disorder, which can lead to colon cancer, appears to have a genetic component, and companies are trying a variety of treatments for the disease, from 5-aminosalicyclic acids, immunomodulators, corticosteroids, and biologics.

Any pharmaceutical company that can come up with an effective IBD drug stands to benefit greatly, particularly since such a therapy would likely show promise toward treating other autoimmune disorders. (OTC: RHHBY), Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), and Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) are all focusing on the disorder. Thanks to their IBD therapies, which is the best buy?

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Source Fool.com