What is Sarilumab? Sarilumab or Kevzara is an injectable prescription medicine used to treat moderate to severely active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in adult patients. It can be used only after at least one other medicine called DMARD has been used and did not work well. How does Sarilumab work? It works by inhibiting interleukin-6 (IL-6). How do you take Sarilumab? Sarilumab comes in a pre-filled pen or syringe that you self-inject once every 2 weeks. Depending on your doctor, it can be taken with or without methotrexate. Do not try to inject your sarilumab prefilled syringe until you have been shown the right way to give sarilumab injections by a healthcare…

Homozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemia is a rare genetic disorder in which the individual is unable to remove LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) from their blood Lomitapide (Juxtapid) capsules are a prescription medicine used along with diet and other low-density lipoproteins (LDL) lowering medicines in adults with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH) to reduce LDL (“bad”) cholesterol from the blood. Lomitapide may cause serious side effects, including: Liver Problems Before you start Lomitapide, your healthcare provider would do blood tests to check your liver because Lomitapide can cause liver problems (such as increased liver enzymes or increased fat in the liver). If your tests show signs of liver problems, your doctor may stop the…

Homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia is a rare disorder in which individuals are genetically unable to remove LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) from their blood. This disease The disease approximately affects 1 in 250,000 people in the United States and many are not diagnosed (people with homozygous FH are not diagnosed until adulthood, delaying proper management and treatment). Evinacumab (EVKEEZA, an injectable prescription medicine) is a fully human monoclonal antibody that inhibits ANGPTL3 and is used along with other low-density lipoproteins (LDL) lowering medicines in people 12 years of age and older to reduce the bad cholesterol or HoFH from the blood. Who shouldn’t use Evinacumab? You shouldn’t use evinacumab if you are allergic…

PANZYGA (Immune Globulin Intravenous (IGIV)) is used for the treatment of chronic immune thrombocytopenia (cITP) in adults to increase platelet counts to control and prevent bleeding; primary humoral immunodeficiency (PI) in patients 2 years of age and older (this includes common variable immunodeficiency Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome, congenital agammaglobulinemia, X-linked agammaglobulinemia, and several other combined immunodeficiencies); and chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) in adults to improve neuromuscular disability and impairment. What should I know before I receive Panzyga? Thrombosis (clotting of the blood) may occur with immune globulin intravenous (IGIV) products, including PANZYGA. Risk factors may include prolonged immobilization, advanced age history of venous or arterial thrombosis, indwelling central vascular catheters use…

What is RITUXAN and what is it used for? RITUXAN is a CD20-directed cytolytic antibody indicated for the treatment of: Adult patients with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (NHL): refractory or relapsed, low grade or follicular, CD20-positive B-cell NHL as a single agent. Previously untreated follicular, CD20-positive, B-cell NHL in combination with first-line chemotherapy and, in patients achieving a complete or partial response to a rituximab product in combination with chemotherapy, as single-agent maintenance therapy. Non-progressing, low-grade, CD20- positive, B-cell NHL as a single agent after first-line vincristine, cyclophosphamide, and prednisone chemotherapy. Previously untreated diffuse large B-cell, CD20-positive NHL in combination with (cyclophosphamide, vincristine, doxorubicin, and prednisone) (CHOP) or other anthracycline-based chemotherapy regimens.…

Immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is an immune-mediated disorder in which there is less number of platelets in the blood. A decrease in blood platelets can lead to easy bruising, bleeding gums, internal bleeding, and reddish-purple spots on the lower leg. Rituximab has become a widely used treatment option for chronic ITP. 40 to 60% of chronic ITP patients achieve a partial or complete platelet response following their initial 4 infusions with standard-dose rituximab. Despite this good response rate, only 15–20% of patients sustain responses lasting at least 3 years. Therefore, more than 70 to 80% of the treated patients will not achieve a response or will respond but the disorder will…

Bullous pemphigoid is a rare skin condition and is mainly seen in older people. It starts with an itchy, raised rash and as the condition develops, large blisters are formed on the skin. The current treatment for bullous pemphigoid is not effective for many patients and this is where biologic drugs like dupilumab, ligelizumab, rituximab, and omalizumab, etc come in. For now, let’s look at some case studies on how omalizumab can be effective for bullous pemphigoid. 1. The first case study shows that 6 patients with BP used omalizumab and the doctor checked in on them for up to 42 months. 5 of the 6 patients with BP received therapeutic…

Immunoglobulin E (IgE) is a key factor of allergic rhinitis (It is an inflammation inside the nose caused by allergens, such as pollen, dust, mold, and also the flakes of skin from certain animals) and omalizumab (Xolair), a biologic drug helps in the removal of this circulating free IgE. Omalizumab seems to be an effective treatment strategy for allergic rhinitis but, the high cost of omalizumab is one reason why it cannot be used to treat allergic rhinitis and it is not FDA approved for this reason. The current treatments for allergic rhinitis include corticosteroids, mast cell stabilizers, leukotriene receptor antagonists, anticholinergics, antihistamines, and allergen immunotherapy which can have long-term…

Many studies show that omalizumab is effective for Allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA) and that it can help many patients, but no regulatory authority has not approved it. Let’s take a look at some of these studies. 1. 102 cases from 30 published literature were analyzed and it said that omalizumab therapy in ABPA not only provided a reduction in serum IgE, exacerbation rates, and steroid requirement but also showed reduced asthma symptoms and improved pulmonary functions in patients with ABPA. 2. Another study included 18 patients who had ABPA along with cystic fibrosis and omalizumab was able to treat it with less side effects compared to long-term corticosteroids. 3. This…

Chronic inflammatory Demyelinating Polyradiculoneuropathy (CIPD) is a rare autoimmune disease in which the body attacks its own tissues. Rituximab is a biologic drug that is known to treat diseases like non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, rheumatoid arthritis, granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA), and microscopic polyangiitis (MPA), and pemphigus Vulgaris. It seems to be effective for the treatment of CIDP, but it is not approved by any regulatory authority. Let’s look at one case study and see how it can help CIPD: 1. A total of 5 patients were identified who had received rituximab for the treatment of CIDP. These have been previously treated with multiple therapies and there was no response. The normal treatments…