... about lymphoma and skin cancer(the )latter I've had diagnosed recently. What type of cancer is connected to Orencia? No one seems to know or they are not saying. Orencia cost approx.$5,000$7,000.00 for each monthly treatment) so it is a very profitable drug. All help is appreciated
JJ
Can Orencia cause cancer and if so what types. I have been on Orencia for 3 years and am concerned
Question posted by Anonymous on 18 Aug 2009
Last updated on 31 October 2018
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Answers
Orencia is a man-made protein that prevents your body's immune system from attacking healthy tissues such as joints.
Orencia is used to treat the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, to slow the progression of joint damage, and to improve physical function.
This taken from Orencia fda monograph: https://www.drugs.com/pro/orencia.html#section-6
"Malignancies
In the placebo-controlled portions of the clinical trials (1955 patients treated with Orencia for a median of 12 months), the overall frequencies of malignancies were similar in the Orencia- and placebo-treated patients (1.3% and 1.1%, respectively). However, more cases of lung cancer were observed in Orencia-treated patients (4, 0.2%) than placebo-treated patients (0). In the cumulative Orencia clinical trials (placebo-controlled and uncontrolled, open-label) a total of 8 cases of lung cancer (0.21 cases per 100 patient-years) and 4 lymphomas (0.10 cases per 100 patient-years) were observed in 2688 patients (3827 patient-years). The rate observed for lymphoma is approximately 3.5-fold higher than expected in an age- and gender-matched general population based on the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Database.1 Patients with RA, particularly those with highly active disease, are at a higher risk for the development of lymphoma. Other malignancies included skin, breast, bile duct, bladder, cervical, endometrial, lymphoma, melanoma, myelodysplastic syndrome, ovarian, prostate, renal, thyroid, and uterine cancers [see Warnings and Precautions (5.6)]. The potential role of Orencia in the development of malignancies in humans is unknown."
I hope this is helpful. The last sentence is probably the most important.
I am a 69 year old female. I started orencia infusions in May of 2015 for rheumatoid arthritis. In June 2016 after two weeks in the hospital for severe back pain I was diagnosed with large B cell follicular non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. I had to have chemotherapy treatments. My oncologist said my lymphoma was caused from the orencia infusions. I was never told by my rheumatologist that lymphoma was a side effect of orencia nor was I given any information that said it did. I have since found out that it is a side effect. I contacted my rheumatologist and spoke to her nurse to let her know. I didn't hear anything from them after that. Who else can I report this to? Health officials should know about this but I don't know if it was reported by my rheumatologist. Always check out side effects of any medications you take. I keep wondering why physicians don't tell their patients, especially older ones, that lymphoma is a side effect of orencia.
I know the infusions cost between $5,000 and $7,000 dollars for one infusion a month. Surly that's not why they don't tell us.
Related topics
rheumatoid arthritis, skin cancer, cancer, lymphoma
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