Is Enbrel Advisable For Rheumatoid Arthritis?

Posted on Wed, 4 Oct 2017

Question: My mother is 62 and has been suffering from Rheumatoid Arthritis for last 20 years. She has benn mostly on low dose of prednisone and weekly injections of Folitrax for past many years. She had a major relapse last year when her CRP levels shot up to 105. Currently her CRP level is 20. Her doctor has prescribed that we must start her on biologics I.e. Enbrel. We have read that it may cause cancer also. We do not know what to do. Please guide us.

Answered by Dr. Naval Mendiratta (43 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
ENbrel

Detailed Answer:
Good evening

thank you for writing on health care magic

Well, If she does have persistent joint flare going on it will be worth while trying Biological drug. Enbrel is one option , but there are many more which are available now.

But before that, Firstly I would suggest adding another drug like Folitrax.. Maybe sulphasalazine or leflunomide...

As per your query, the cancer risk with Enbrel is very low. It is difficult to predict, but we do have patients who have been on this drug for many years without any side effects. Usually , we dont use this drug for more than 6 months.. So that is something, not to be worried about

But I would suggest, we add another oral drug before going to biologicals as we need a long term plan as well apart from Acute control with Enbrel

Do let me know for more queries

Regards
Dr naval

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Nagamani Ng