The virus and injection medication for Rheumatoid Arthritis

[petalnumber2]

Hi everyone,

I have had RA for about 10 years. I am currently on Abatacept pre filled pens. I have heard that the injection medication for RA can provide some protection against Covid 19.

Can anyone tell me if this is true ?

June xxx

[allanah]

Its not been proven at all but some of the specialist drugs used in RA are used as a treatment not prevention in severe hospitalised covid, so unfortunatly no, no proof that it protects against covid. The only thing shown to protect as you know is vaccination, social distancing ,masks, hand washing and ventilation. If it had been proved the world would be on it now 😂that would have been good!

[helixhelix]

As well as what Allanah says there is some data now that says if you are on anti-tnf drugs you may get very slightly less severe covid that someone else exactly the same as you. So if you have factors that mean you are very high risk for very severe covid it won’t help much, if at all. Far better to take all the precautions to avoid getting it!

[RheumST]

No, that's complete nonsense. Be sure you get your information only from NIH, or State Health departments.

[helixhelix in reply to RheumST]

This is a predominantly UK site, and with people from around the world so many different national health services.

[Paula-C]

I think we do, I posted about it on here about a year ago and since then what I've read, listened to and been told makes me 99.99% certain we do. When I heard last year that people who had covid really bad was because they had had a cytokine storm in their body causing lots of inflammation i thought then that anti tnfs stops our immune response, stops cytokines causing inflammation in our bodies. Different anti tnfs work differently but they all have the same aim, stopping cytokines attacking us. Anti tnfs also boost our T cells, they regulate our immune system.

I've read lots of articles about rheumatology drugs being trialled to treat covid patients, in fact toczillumab was recently approved to to treat patients with covid. I don't think it's rocket science to come up with the conclusion that a drug that stops cytokines causing inflammation in a persons body and it's a cytokine storm that causes bad covid in people,p that if your on one of these drug that suppresses this you must in theory have some protection, your immune system will not go into overdrive.

So what does rheumatologist think on the subject? I've come to the conclusion that they've got splinters in their bottoms from sitting on the fence so long, just think they daren't just come out and say it just in case. My friend asked her consultants registrar, he said that if she caught covid she shouldn't get it bad. My consultant told another friend it's more than likely that she wouldn't get it bad and when I asked him if we've got some protection he said its looking like we probably have (like I said sitting on the fence).

Now I'm not saying to everyone on anti tnfs we're safe, Im still being really careful, like allanah said above the best protection is hand washing, social distancing, ventilation and wearing a mask.

[Jacqbox]

I think you need to be careful, biologics work in different ways. Abatacept works by blocking the activity of T cells not boosting them.

[Paula-C in reply to Jacqbox]

I got confused about anti tnfs and T Cells, until I read the following from Versus Arthritis.

As well as blocking the TNF protein, anti-TNF treatments also affect a group of immune cells known as regulatory T cells.

These cells can help to stop inflammation but don’t work properly in rheumatoid arthritis. Anti-TNF treatment can boost their number and function to help control inflammation.

Here's a link to the article, very interesting,

versusarthritis.org/news/20...

I did hear several months ago that a university was working on a covid vaccine that boosts a persons T cells. I also read a newspaper article a few months ago stating that scientist had found out that the cytokine storm is triggered by two proteins in the body...TNF-alpha and INF-gamma, we're taking something to stop TNF's doing this.

dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech...

[rounder]

I take abatacept too. I suspect it works against us in covid because it suppresses t cells, t cells help the body fight infections like covid. The balance is in keeping out RA in check and being careful to protect yourself from catching covid by following the rules and avoiding crowds. The year of shielding had felt endless but very necessary. Take good care of yourself.

[Paula-C in reply to rounder]

I've replied above to Jacqbox about anti tnfs and T cells,

[MJSlide1958 in reply to rounder]

Is abatacept a biologic or biosimilar?

[rounder in reply to MJSlide1958]

I believe it's a biologic, when I started it I was told it's one of the newer drugs.

[Paula-C]

I've just been reading up on abatacept and yes it works entirely different to an anti tnf which was what I was referring to....sorry for any confusion. From what I read this drug is given if anti tnfs don't work for people with RA.

[rounder in reply to Paula-C]

In my case I couldn't take anti tnf meds due to lung disease so was out on abatacept as a safer option, but the consultant had to get special permission from a specific committee in the hospital.

[petalnumber2]

Thank you all for your replies to my question. It is, as I thought ! Take care everyone xxx