Fertility

[jluhart]

I am on Remicade for AS.  Does anyone know if it affects fertility or have gotten pregnant while on Remicade?  Everything I read about Remicade and pregnancy is incomplete since it hasn't been around very long and no research has been done on it.

[Christie2004]

From the short search I did, it was listed as a pregnancy category B drug.  Here's what I found:


"Pregnancy Category B
Since infliximab does not cross-react with TNF-alpha in species other
than humans and chimpanzees, animal reproduction studies have not been
conducted with REMICADE. No evidence of maternal toxicity,
embryotoxicity or teratogenicity was observed in a developmental
toxicity study conducted in mice using an analogous antibody that
selectively inhibits the functional activity of mouse TNF-alpha. Doses
of 10 to 15 mg/kg in pharmacodynamic animal models with the anti-TNF
analogous antibody produced maximal pharmacologic effectiveness. Doses
up to 40 mg/kg were shown to produce no adverse effects in animal
reproduction studies. It is not known whether REMICADE can cause fetal
harm when administered to a pregnant woman or can affect reproduction
capacity. REMICADE should be given to a pregnant woman only if clearly
needed."

There are plenty of category B drugs that ARE used during pregnancy.  YOUR DOCTOR IS THE BEST ONE TO GIVE YOU ADVICE ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT TO TAKE IT.  

Good luck!

[jluhart]

I wish they could do some testing to see how it affects fertility because even though a lot of people with my disease and/or on Remicade are over the age of 50, some of us do want to have children.

[sp73]

My husband gets remicade treatments for Chrones and we have been trying to get pregnant for a year now. We just had our first appointment with a fertility specialist and he seems to think that remicade effects the sperm "quality".  I will keep you posted when I learn more about it!