Biologic therapy for autoimmune diseases: An update

Ziv Rosman, Yehuda Shoenfeld, Gisele Zandman-Goddard*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

178 Scopus citations

Abstract

Biologic therapies for rheumatologic diseases, which are targeted at molecules involved in the mechanisms of the immune system, provide an alternative to the existing treatment methods of disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs and other immunosuppressive medications. However, the current drawbacks of biologic therapies, including the inconvenience of intravenous administration, the high costs of these drugs, and the adverse events associated with them, prevent their wide use as first-line medications. This review provides an update of the recent literature on the new biologic therapies available. The review concentrates on nine drugs: tocilizumab, rituximab, ofatumumab, belimumab, epratuzumab, abatacept, golimumab, certolizumab, and sifalimumab, which are used as therapies for rheumatoid arthritis, spondyloarthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, systemic sclerosis, or vasculitis.

Original languageEnglish
Article number88
JournalBMC Medicine
Volume11
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 4 Apr 2013

Keywords

  • Anti-TNF
  • Autoimmune diseases
  • B cell depletion
  • Biologics
  • Rheumatoid arthritis
  • Spondyloarthritis
  • Systemic lupus erythematosus
  • Systemic sclerosis
  • Vasculitis

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