Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Risks in using Arthritis drugs

The article below was in the Vancouver Sun newspaper of yesterday, Wednesday, May 17.

The headline was "Arthritis drugs could increase cancer risk".

The sub-headline was "Remicade and Humira also increase likelihood of pneumonia and TB, study shows.

A class of drugs considered a breakthrough in the treatment of arthritis could significantly increase the risk of cancers and serious infections that put people in hospital, a new study has found.

U.S. and British researchers who pooled data from nine studies, found that arthritis patients taking Remicade and Humira had three times the risk of developing cancer, and twice the risk of pneumonia, tuberculosis and other serious infections, than patients on a "dummy pill" or placebo.

Cancers were more common in patients treated with high dosed of the drugs. The drugs, which are given by injection, were already believed to increase the risk of lymphomas. But the new study, published two days ago in the journalof the American Medical Association, found lung, skin, breast, ovarian and other tumours as well.

"The overall incidence of the risk is low but it is definite and that is something that hadn't really been appreciated before," Materson, a Mayo Clinic rheumatologist, says.

(I left out a few sentences that didn't change the thrust of article. Of interest though was that "more than 163000 prescriptions worth $325.7 million dollars were dispensed for the drugs in the 12 months ending Mar. 31. 2006)

OldGeorge

Thanks for posting this George. Important to be conscious of the risks.

Wish it were not so, but they have suspected this risk. Says specifically in Rheumatoid patients, and my 2 docs believe there is a notable difference in that... tho I suspect when there are enough of us ASers on Remicade to study in large numbers, we'll see a similar slight increase in risk too.

Here's the link to the article in JAMA (Journal of American Medical Association)

Hugs,
mig

thanks for the articles folks.

these side affects have been pretty much known/feared all along, the Enbrel pamphlet with each pack is huge! .. like trying to fold a map when youre finished .. lol

ive always said, having been where i was with AS and knowing where i am now, i would still have no hesitation in starting them again, none whatsoever.

nice to be informed though. thanks again.

Patrick

All this scare the hell out of me! But then with statistics like 1 in 3 of us will die of cancer anyway, I guess its worth the risk..

Thanks for the link.

I was going to search for it this morning.

I almost decided to not post the article as I know that so many are doing well with their remicade but also, they should know what the research turned up.

I loved the picture of you and Kath together!

George

Years ago, someone coined the phrase "There are lies, damned lies and statistics."

Since I already have the cancer, 1 out of 3 is not what I want to hear and instead, will choose to believe that there really is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Hugs,
OldGeorge

Mark Twain, I think George!

In answer to your other question, do I want to be an actor! Well all the world's a stage they say, but no, I think I will remain my dull, uninteresting mundane self and just stick to being an Astronaut.... ...........well I have to pop back to the moon for a minute or two, left my sunglasses last time...

I'm sure it could have been him.

BTW, do you know how and why he chose the name Mark Twain instead of using Samual Clemens for his books?

I'm also sure that you will know this.

George

Hi Patrick,
I have to agree. The risks sound pretty scary, but compared to where I was before, I'll take that risk any day. It's so worth it, for me, anyway.

George,
I LOVE that quote! As a biostats geek, I just may have to use it.

Thanks for the articles - I love it that people here keep up to date with everything. What a great place!

I was recently reading a newspaper article stating that a new drug (not arthritis med) caused three times the incidence of cancer.
So, skeptical me had to look up that study, and found that in the control group cancer incidence was 0.1% and the experimental group was 0.3%!!
Makes me laugh - Slightly misleading. I think most of us would take that kind of risk, if the benefits were great. They must have had some massive sample sizes to have a significant difference between those groups.