glad to hear that rituxin is working for you. I've been through the TNF inhibitors, like enbrel, humira, remicade, etc...) and I started orencia last year. The orencia infusions proved too much for my system, so now I take orencia by injection only. Last summer I was diagnosed with a skin cancer (not melanoma) that was indirectly caused by the orencia. In my research, the only other RA biologic available and in a different class than the TNF inhibitors and orencia was rituxin.
The research I read on rituxin was pretty scary. I asked my rheumatologist about it, and he does not like to use it. He said if I had negative side effects from it, I would basically be stuck with those side effects for close to a year and he didn't want to be responsible for that. That's when I decided to try the orencia injections and pray that other skin cancers don't crop up. Don't get me wrong, orencia does not cause skin cancer, but like many of the biologics, it will bring out any cancers that an individual may be predisposed to getting. I'm a bit on the young side to get these types of skin cancers, so I'm pretty sure that the orencia encouraged it along. If orencia ends up causing more negative side effects, rituxin is just about the only thing left.
Elcamino