HumiraPronunciation.
Generic Name: adalimumab
Dosage Form: injection
WARNING: SERIOUS INFECTIONS AND MALIGNANCY
SERIOUS INFECTIONS
Patients treated with Humira are at increased risk for developing serious infections that may lead to hospitalization or death [see Warnings and Precautions (5.1)]. Most patients who developed these infections were taking concomitant immunosuppressants such as methotrexate or corticosteroids.
Discontinue Humira if a patient develops a serious infection or sepsis.
Reported infections include:
• Active tuberculosis (TB), including reactivation of latent TB. Patients with TB have frequently presented with disseminated or extrapulmonary disease. Test patients for latent TB before Humira use and during therapy. Initiate treatment for latent TB prior to Humira use.
• Invasive fungal infections, including histoplasmosis, coccidioidomycosis, candidiasis, aspergillosis, blastomycosis, and pneumocystosis. Patients with histoplasmosis or other invasive fungal infections may present with disseminated, rather than localized, disease. Antigen and antibody testing for histoplasmosis may be negative in some patients with active infection. Consider empiric anti-fungal therapy in patients at risk for invasive fungal infections who develop severe systemic illness.
• Bacterial, viral and other infections due to opportunistic pathogens, including Legionella and Listeria.
Carefully consider the risks and benefits of treatment with Humira prior to initiating therapy in patients with chronic or recurrent infection.
Monitor patients closely for the development of signs and symptoms of infection during and after treatment with Humira, including the possible development of TB in patients who tested negative for latent TB infection prior to initiating therapy [see Warnings and Precautions (5.1) and Adverse Reactions (6.1)].
MALIGNANCY
Lymphoma and other malignancies, some fatal, have been reported in children and adolescent patients treated with TNF blockers including Humira [see Warnings and Precautions (5.2)]. Post-marketing cases of hepatosplenic T-cell lymphoma (HSTCL), a rare type of T-cell lymphoma, have been reported in patients treated with TNF blockers including Humira. These cases have had a very aggressive disease course and have been fatal. The majority of reported TNF blocker cases have occurred in patients with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis and the majority were in adolescent and young adult males. Almost all these patients had received treatment with azathioprine or 6-mercaptopurine (6–MP) concomitantly with a TNF blocker at or prior to diagnosis. It is uncertain whether the occurrence of HSTCL is related to use of a TNF blocker or a TNF blocker in combination with these other immunosuppressants [see Warnings and Precautions (5.2)].
Indications and Usage for Humira
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Humira is indicated for reducing signs and symptoms, inducing major clinical response, inhibiting the progression of structural damage, and improving physical function in adult patients with moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis. Humira can be used alone or in combination with methotrexate or other non-biologic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs).
Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis
Humira is indicated for reducing signs and symptoms of moderately to severely active polyarticular juvenile idiopa