Humira + Other Biologicals

Hi my daughter is on Infliximab to treat her Crohn's disease and has only very recently being diagnosed with psoriasis. Both Infliximab and Humira are immunosuppressents, your immune system is weakened so it cannot attack you so much and can be used to treat psoriasis.

Hi I've been on HUMIRA for 4 years now.it took about 3 months to get funding (I think) I know it wasn't long.brilliant medication,I hope you get the funding,good luck

Hi EQ, Like you I have had both Methotrexate and Ciclosporin which have stopped working for me. Before moving on to biologics I would suggest asking for Fumaderm or Acitretin. These are both tablet based medications, and though they do affect your body and have side effects, they are less severe when compared to biologics. Personally I have been on Fumaderm for just over a year now and I see daily improvements, I have gone from ~90% covered to ~10% currently and have only been on top dose for 3 months so I am hopefully of being completely clear as I was on Methotrexate before my relapse. the main side effect was diarrhoea, this was severe for about 2 weeks during my third dose increase but has completely settled since then. There is none of the lethargy, nausea and mood effects which I experienced on Methotrexate so I love Fumaderm! Of course for many people biologics are the only treatment viable, however for us psoriasis sufferers they are the last line of defence. As with Methotrexate, they are a form of chemotherapy and once you start down that path you can't move back to tablet treatments, so I am exhausting every other option before moving on to biologics. I work in this industry and there are many biologics in late phase trials that will be a league above what is currently available, I am holding out for someone like Novartis to get their IL-17 drug on the market before I have to resort to injectables, the research is looking promising! I suggest that it's worth looking at google scholar and reading a few research papers on how much of an improvement the industry is making compared to the current anti-TNFs currently prescribed. Sorry to bang on a bit, but when we start taking injectables we go from being biologically naive to exposed. This means, for example, if you take an anti-TNF and you don't respond well and then move to an anti-IL, you will not respond as well to the second drug as if you had been put directly on to the anti-IL. Because of this exposure effect it is imperative to be put on the best possible biologic at the beginning to get the best chance of clearance and make sure it doesn't hamper future treatments. My personal experience is that the doctors assume you don't need to know information on the drugs you're taking to this detail so don't bother explaining exactly what you are taking and what effect that will have on your future. Sorry for the essay, but I hope this helps someone!