FDA says TNF blockers can lead to Blood Cancer

A Rare Blood Cancer is on the rise and it stems from the intake of a certain class of inflammatory drug which are used to combat digestive ailments. This form of cancer is found in young patients and the US health experts are quite concerned about it. The FDA had already issued a warning stating that there is a chance of an increased risk of lymphomas and other types of cancers which are usually related to the prolonged use of TNF blockers in adolescents and children. 2 days back, FDA said that blood cancer often affect young adults and adolescents who were on the prescription of TNF blockers. They also said that medicines like azathioprine have this tendency to suppress our body’s immune system. Mercaptopurine, which is used for leukemia was also named by the FDA with potential harmful effects. Blood cancer is also called as Hepatosplenic T-Cell Lymphoma or HSTCL. Remicade and Humira’s product labels have been duly updated. Same goes for Azathioprine and Mercaptopurine. Their respective product labels have been updated as the warnings about HSTCL have been included in them. Most of the cases were seen in patients who were being for Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis. It is being said that these TNF Blockers have the ability to suppress the immune system and this maybe hazardous to the patients. When this happens, there would be inflammation and you could be stricken with various immune system related diseases. The FDA are taken proper preventive measures to avoid its spread.