Anti-TNF treatment does not increase

cancer risk in people with RA

Taken from NRAS magazine, New Year 2010

Swedish researchers from the Karolinska University Hospital found that people with RA did not have an increased risk of cancer in the first 6 years of treatment with anti-TNF therapies infliximab, adalimumab and etanercept.

The study is one of the biggest and longest population-based assessments of cancer risks associated with immunosuppressive therapy. Information was included from several Swedish databases including the Biologics Register, the Cancer Register, and the Early RA Register. Researchers looked at information from 6,366 people who started anti-TNF therapy between January 1999 and July 2006 and compared it with other people with RA including 61,160 not taking medication, 4015 using methotrexate and 4,015 taking DMARDS other than TNF inhibitors.

Although the research indicates that the overall cancer risk is the same for people with RA on anti-TNF therapies as those treated differently and those not treated; the researchers suggest that continued vigilance is prudent.