The current approach to the treatment of Crohn's Disease is based on "step care". This strategy is relatively ineffective for the long-term management of patients who require treatment with corticosteroids. Although azathioprine, methotrexate and infliximab are modestly effective in this high-risk population, long-term corticosteroid-free response rates are low. Thus combination therapy is an attractive option to explore. Based on a favourable experience with dual therapy in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and the demonstrated efficacy of methotrexate in corticosteroid-dependent CD, we expect that combination therapy with methotrexate and infliximab will be significantly more effective than infliximab monotherapy. Furthermore combined therapy is likely to be highly effective in preventing formation of the antibodies to infliximab that are an important limitation to the continued successful use of this drug.