TNF-alpha blocking drugs can cause skin diseases

The study found that 25 percent of the patients had developed skin disorders sufficiently serious to require medical attention. The skin disorders included eczema, eruptions, and skin tumors. The types of drugs associated with the skin problems included infliximab, adalimumab, etanercerpt, and lenerceptugs, all of which are TNF-alpha blockers.

• A new anti-arthritis drug can be cause for severe skin disorders.
• Such skin disorders can affect nearly 25 per cent of patients under treatment with this drug, says a recent finding reported in Arthritis Research and Therapy, a medical journal.
• The new drug is developed from Tumour Necrosis Factor alpha (TNF-alpha) blocking agents, which are basically used in halting the process of joint destruction.
• The report said that a medical team under Marcel Flendrie in Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre in the Netherlands had covered 289 rheumatoid arthritis patients put on TNF-alpha blocking drugs for a period of one to 10 years and found that 25 per cent of these patients were suffering from skin disorders that required medical attention.
• The patients were using drugs such as infliximab, adalimumab, etanercept and lenerceptugs, all derived from TNF-alfa blocking agents.
• The skin disorders ranged from eczema and drug eruptions to even skin tumors.
• In late 2004, anti-arthritis drug Vioxx (based on cos-2 inhibitors) was withdrawn from the market following findings of heart and stroke risks associated with it.
• Two other cox-2 inhibitors too had reported risk of this nature, but these are still available in the market.