No Cancer Risk With Anti-TNF Drugs Used To Treat RA.
Ed Susman writing in MedPage Today reported, “Biologic agents used to treat arthritis do not appear to have any greater risk of cancer than other treatments for the disease,” according to “a nine-year registry analysis” presented at the at the European League Against Rheumatism annual meeting. The investigators identified 13,699 arthritis patients of whom 5,598 took at least one dose of anti-tumor necrosis factor biologic agents. Over 3,496 of the patients treated with anti-tumor necrosis factor biologic agents were diagnosed with RA, while 858 were treated for ankylosing spondylitis, 670 for psoriatic arthritis, and the remainder for other conditions. These patients were compared with over 8,000 patients who were not treated with the agents. The researchers found that “the risk of cancer was not statistically different whether a patient was taking” anti-TNF “agents or other treatments for arthritis.
Tags: arthritis, arthritis risks, arthritis treatment, biologic therapy, cancer, health risks, nathan wei
