FDA Orders Stronger Warnings for Arthritis Drugs

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The Food and Drug Administration ordered stronger warnings Thursday on four medications widely used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and other serious illnesses, saying they can raise the risk of possibly fatal fungal infections.

The drugs — Enbrel, Remicade, Humira and Cimzia — work by suppressing the immune system to keep it from attacking the body. For patients with rheumatoid arthritis, the treatment provides relief from swollen and painful joints.

But the drugs also lower the body’s defenses to various kinds of infections. The FDA became concerned after discovering information that doctors appeared to be overlooking a particular kind of fungal infection called histoplasmosis. Of 240 cases of the infection reported to the FDA, a total of 45 patients died — about 20 percent.


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