Biologic drugs effective, but pricey

Hyderabad: Biologic drugs (a biological medical product made  or taken from  biological sources) help in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis (inflammation of the axial skeleton which comprises the bones of the head and trunk).

But, they are effective only if the disease is identified at an early stage when the bone joint and cartilages have not been destroyed or deformed. Biologic drugs have proved to be a better line of treatment than traditional drugs, but the patients need to be screened for infections.

Dr Rajiv Paul, senior consultant and physician, Apollo Hospital, said, “These drugs have shown better results in middle-aged patients than in senior citizens.

Also, patients need to be screened for infections, tuberculosis and heart ailments before the drug can be administered. Biologic drugs are not recommended for patients suffering from multiple sclerosis, congestive heart failure and hepatitis.

The drugs are toxic and have side-effects like fever, chills, nausea, headache and flu-like illness. Some people even develop rashes.”

Most patients are given traditional drugs with biologics to beat the side-effects. But the drugs are expensive the prices range between Rs 60,000 and Rs 80,000 per month.

There are nine biologic drugs in the market so far. The most recent was found to be less toxic. Dr Paul said that the generic drugs were not found to be as effective as the branded ones, and are not being recommended to patients.