{"id":2560,"date":"2011-11-07T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-11-07T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/condition-ibs-tnf-inhibitors-infection-risk\/"},"modified":"2011-11-07T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-11-07T00:00:00","slug":"condition-ibs-tnf-inhibitors-infection-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/condition-ibs-tnf-inhibitors-infection-risk\/","title":{"rendered":"No Increased Infection Risk Seen with Psoriasis, RA Drugs"},"content":{"rendered":"
Getty Images<\/p>\n
By Amanda Gardner<\/p>\n
MONDAY, November 7, 2011 (Health.com) — A class of injectable drugs used to treat autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis doesn't raise the risk of serious infection when compared with more conventional treatments, according to a new analysis in the Journal of the American Medical Association<\/em>.<\/p>\n The research, which was funded by the Food and Drug Administration and other federal health agencies, contradicts numerous earlier studies that did find an increased risk of infection associated with the drugs, known as tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors.<\/p>\n The possibility that TNF inhibitors—which include popular drugs such as Humira<\/a> and Enbrel<\/a>—pose no additional infection risk is a "very new and heretical idea," says David T. Felson, MD, a professor of medicine and epidemiology at the Boston University School of Medicine, who cowrote an editorial accompanying the study. "Up until now there has been considerable evidence that anti-TNFs heightened the risk of serious infection compared to other treatments."<\/p>\n Related links:<\/p>\n The lead author of the study, Carlos G. Grijalva, MD, a professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University, in Nashville, Tenn., says the findings "should be reassuring for patients and providers."<\/p>\n Dr. Felson, however, says the new findings aren't sufficient to quell the concerns raised by previous studies. "We still need to be concerned about serious infection risk among patients starting these medicines," he says.<\/p>\n Autoimmune conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and inflammatory bowel disease, arise when the body's immune system goes awry and begins attacking healthy cells and tissue. TNF inhibitors—known as biologic drugs<\/a>, because they're derived from substances that occur naturally in humans and animals—work by blocking the action of TNF, an important immune-system molecule.<\/p>\n This class of drugs drastically improved the treatment of these conditions when first introduced in the late 1990s, but because they suppress the immune system they are believed to open the door to opportunistic infections. Some patients taking the drugs have died from these infections, and the FDA has been closely watching the drugs' safety profile as more and more people use them.<\/p>\n\n