Has anyone been treated with biologics (monoclonal antibodies)?

[Waverunner]

The reason why I ask this question is that over the last years a lot of new biologics were approved by the FDA and EMA for different indications. Once the biologic has been approved for one indication pharma companies test its efficacy for other diseases. Many newer biologics are effective for not one but for several diseases.

For example, Risankizumab is one of the most effective - but also expensive - treatments for psoriasis:

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamadermatology/fullarticle/2759772

However, Risankizumab also seems to be effective in Crohn's disease and PsA. The same is true for most other biologics in this list, they are approved or were submitted for different immunological diseases.

The specific cause of CFS is still unknown. However, if these new biologics are effective for a wide variety of immunological diseases, they could also be effective for CFS, if CFS has some immunological origin.

Hence, it would be very nice to know if any patient with CFS is benefitting from a specific biologic. We know that rituximab seemed to be beneficial for some patients but rituximab is quite old, it can have some serious side effects and other studies did not show efficacy for CFS.

New research studies for biologics in CFS would be very interesting since we have so many new drugs and fatigue is one major symptom in many immunological diseases.

 

[keepontruckin]

I think Nancy Klimas did a drug trial on gulf war illness using a couple of drugs one of them being entanercept, an injectable drug that has been used in Rheumatoid Arthritis and Psoriasis, and mifepristone. I recall it was successful and she was going to do a similar trial on me cfs believing there was a similarity in the diseases. That was a couple of years ago.. Others may know what happened.

 

[Waverunner]

Good to know that they already did some studies with Etanercept. However, in my eyes, it would be very nice to have some studies with more recent drugs like Risankizumab, Brodalumab, Bimekizumab, and Ixekizumab because they have a significantly better safety profile and also seem to be more efficient.

In the past, we had several TNA inhibitors like etanercept or adalimumab but the more recent biologics - at least for psoriasis, etc. - all target IL23 and IL17. Unless we get off-label or clinical trial treatment, it is unlikely to get these drugs in a CFS setting. However, many people with CFS have comorbidities, and treating these comorbidities with these new drugs is a possibility. Would be very interesting to know how they affect fatigue.

 

[keepontruckin]

Waverunner you have made such an important point. I find it really annoying that governments have not tried some of these biologics you mention in a cfs setting.!

 

[Waverunner]

Waverunner you have made such an important point. I find it really annoying that governments have not tried some of these biologics you mention in a cfs setting.!

Absolutely, the more I think about it the more frustrated I get. We don't know about the exact disease mechanism behind CFS or what is causing it but we have a lot of new biologics. These biologics work for different diseases and incorporate very different modes of action. In my eyes, if CFS has some immunological background, chances are very high that a few of these treatments might work at least for subgroups of CFS patients. Fatigue is a symptom of many immune diseases and targeted treatment can help in these cases.

Lots of hope was put into Rituximab, why did we stop here when we have so many even more advanced options left?