For IBD patients, little data is available on patients using Remicade for more than one year or more than 8 doses. A non-pharma funded study published last fall examined 50 patients on long-term Remicade and found a mix of results.
The good news: 30% of the Crohn's patients and 44% of the UC patients were relapse free for many months after the last Remicade infusion.
Nine out of 29 CD and 4 out of 9 UC patients, who discontinued infliximab scheduled treatment, are still relapse-free after a median of 16 (5-30) and 6.5 (4-16) mo following the last infusion, respectively.
The bad news: 6% of the people developed malignancies (solid tumors) and 32% experienced at least 1 adverse event.
Acute infusion reaction: 6%
Delayed infusion reaction: 2%
(serum like sickness)
opportunistic infection: 18%
(5 Herpes, 1 Varcella-zoster virus, 2 atypical pnuemonia)
Malignant disorder: 6%
(tumor)
source: World Journal of Gastroenterology 2007 October 21; 13(39): 5238-5244