I am not sure if I am spelling this correctly, however, I just read on the Johns hopkins website that this new cancer drug has just been approved 2 weeks ago for ra. apparently it has none of the nasty side effects that mtx has and is good for attacking immune b cells. Apparently there is no hair loss, fatigue, etc. It has been used for non-hodgkins lymphoma. any one know anything? I am at the end of my rope. I am now on 6 mtx pills a week and have been for 7 weeks. No improvement, nothing. Even my rhumatologist said that there has not been any noticeable improvement. I am now noticing my hair thinning which makes me sad. My memory is not as sharp at work. I know, you have all been there. Apparently,I have the best insurance and yet it will take "sometime" top get humira, enbrel or the others approved. I live in PA, and I feel as if my Doc is just going thru the motions with this disease. I know that with these drugs, that you can't "go back", if one stops working, but this is not the quality of life I expected at 41. I was excited when I saw this drug. Please help.
Hey Nat...
I took Rutuxan for Difuse Large B Cell Non-Hogdkins Lymphoma. Endured 8 "cycles" of treatment and thought I wanted to die. Put in in remission though.
I,too, saw where Rutuxan was approved for RA. Out of curiousity, I asked my rheumy about it. He said the dosage for RA treatment is far less than that for NHL. He also said that it is "for patients of a last resort". I'm quickly approaching that stage as well as you. I have failed Enbrel therapy and it was decided not to try other TNF (i.e. Remicade and Humira) therapies and I was put on Kineret. Been on that for about three weeks now. High hopes for Kineret, because Rutuxan is next and I have truly been there done that.
Good luck to you,
Joe
My rheumie is very excited about the rituxin. Hope it helps!I wonder how the cost of Rituxen compares to Enbrel and Humira....