Rheumatoid Arthritis Drug Humira Linked to Psoriasis, Herpes, Possibly
Cancer
By Martha Rosenberg, AlterNet. Posted September 18, 2008.
In six years, Abbott Laboratories' Humira has gone from wonder drug to
wonder-how-it-got-approved drug.
http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/98959/
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And, unlike its main competitor in 2003, Johnson & Johnson's Remicade,
which a doctor had to administer in the office, you could inject
Humira at home!
But even as Abbott lobbied Congress successfully in 2003 to get
Humira's $15,000-a-year costs on the Medicare dole and seeded seniors
with freebies before Humira's risks -- and especially higher risks for
seniors -- were made public, Humira's safety profile had to be revised
downward.
Clinical trials in 2004 revealed allergic reactions including
anaphylactoid in 1 percent of Humira patients as well as cytopenia, a
serious hematologic event, and pancytopenia and aplastic anemia, bone
marrow conditions.