Today, it was announced that Humira can be used for people with ulcerative colitis (inflammatory bowel disease). Although, I do not suffer from colitis but from Crohn’s I am happy now more patients will have access to a drug that has really helped me (no pain since June!). Perhaps the post I did back in August maybe persuaded the FDA! The panel decision of 15-2 made it pretty clear that the drug should be approved. As I said in that post the FDA really has no business telling patients with chronic diseases what drugs they should or should not use. Often these patients have more and better knowledge than bureaucrats.
Humira is an $8 billlion drug that is already used for things like Crohn’s, psoriatic arthritis, anklosing spondylitis, plaque psoriasis, and juvenile idiopathic arthritis. I hope the drug is approved for more uses (I have a feeling Humira could help other autoimmune diseases not sure which ones though). Humira is pretty simple to use. You can go onto the forums and other blogs that describe how scary it is but it is a piece of cake (especially if you have gone through a horrible disease like Crohn’s or ulcerative colitis). The injection stings a little bit and really just feels like you banged your skin against something hard. I put band aids over where I inject it to be safe and ripping off the band-aid hurts more than the Humira injection! Today makes a day we have improved the world just a little bit more.