with blood clotting and stop bleeding.
increase in certain liver function tests.
You should not receive ACTEMRA if your neutrophil or platelet counts are too low or your liver function tests are too high.
Your healthcare provider may stop your ACTEMRA treatment for a period of time or change your dose of medicine if needed because of changes in these blood test results.
You may also have changes in other laboratory tests, such as your blood cholesterol levels. Your healthcare provider should do blood tests to check your cholesterol levels 4 to 8 weeks after you start receiving ACTEMRA, and then every 6 months after that. Normal cholesterol levels are important to good heart health.
4. Cancer.
ACTEMRA may decrease the activity of your immune system. Medicines that affect the immune system may increase your risk of certain cancers. Tell your healthcare provider if you have ever had any type of cancer.
See "What are the possible side effects with ACTEMRA?" for more information about side effects.
What is ACTEMRA?
ACTEMRA is a prescription medicine called an Interleukin-6 (IL-6) receptor inhibitor. ACTEMRA is used to treat adults with moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) after at least one other medicine called a Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) antagonist has been used and did not work well.
It is not known if ACTEMRA is safe and effective in children.
What should I tell my healthcare provider before receiving ACTEMRA?
ACTEMRA may not be right for you. Before starting ACTEMRA, tell your healthcare provider if you:
have an infection. See "What is the most important information I should know about ACTEMRA?"
have liver problems
have any stomach-area (abdominal) pain or been diagnosed with diverticulitis or ulcers in your stomach or intestines
have or had a condition that affects your nervous system, such as multiple sclerosis
have recently received or are scheduled to receive a vaccine. People who take ACTEMRA should not receive live vaccines. People taking ACTEMRA can receive non-live vaccines
plan to have surgery or a medical procedure
have any other medical conditions
plan to become pregnant or are pregnant. It is not known if ACTEMRA will harm your unborn baby.
Pregnancy Registry: Genentech has a registry for pregnant women who take ACTEMRA. The purpose of this registry is to check the health of the pregnant mother and her baby. If you are pregnant or become pregnant while taking ACTEMRA, talk to your healthcare provider about how you can join this pregnancy registry or you may contact the registry at 1-877-311-8972 to enroll.
plan to breast-feed or are breast-feeding. You and your healthcare provider should decide if you will take ACTEMRA or breast-feed. You should not do both.
Tell your healthcare provider about all of the medicines you take, including prescription and non-prescription medicines, vitamins and herbal supplements. ACTEMRA and other medicines may affect each other causing side effects.
Especially tell your healthcare provider if you take:
any other medicines to treat your RA. You should not take etanercept (Enbrel®), adalimumab (Humira®), infliximab (Remicade®), rituximab (Rituxan®), abatacept (Orencia®), anakinra (Kineret®), certolizumab (Cimzia®), or golimumab (Simponi®), while you are taking ACTEMRA. Taking ACTEMRA with these medicines may increase your risk of infection.
medicines that affect the way certain live |
