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Tag: rheumatoid arthritis

Balancing act’s role in prevention

Balancing act’s role in prevention

A number of immune-modulator drugs are used today with good success in treating rheumatoid arthritis. The object of a study recently written up in Arthritis Research and Therapy was to see which ones reduced the benefit of flu vaccine.

As it turns out the drugs that work on tumor necrosis factor (TNF) had only a mild effect in reducing antibody production from flu vaccine. These drugs include Humira, Enbrel, Remicade and Cimzia.

Drugs that severely reduced antibody production were Rituxan and Orencia. Because the antibody response with these drugs was so poor, the researchers recommended several options: Vaccinate for flu before starting these medications; or, if the patient is already under therapy, give a second booster flu shot one month after the first shot.