Average Length of Biologics' Effectiveness?

What is your def of remission? I have been on all of the biologics and had some success with all but more with Remicade. I had 5 good years before it stopped working and went to humira. Humira failed right off the bat and cimzia gave me about 6 months. I am now back on Remicade and have been back on it for about a year with much better results than the first 5 years that I was on it. My dose of 10 per is still the same as is my frequency of every 4 weeks but the antibodies are not as bad as before. I attribute it to my body being off it for a while and now premedicating with benedryl, cortisteroids, and zophran IV.
As for having remission, I have never had a period of normal bowel or arthritis since I got sick in 2003. I have however seen a decrease in symptoms after each infusion and I consider that a success.When the remicade started failing the first time it was very gradual. It stopped working the full 4 weeks and then would only last 2 weeks and finally it got so it was only a few days. I thought that it had stopped working all together until I finally went off of it and realized how much it truly was helping and suppressing.

My husband's been on it now for over 2 years. He's doing pretty good. We have a friend who has been on Remicade for the past 9 years. It really seems to be luck of the draw how long your body listens to Remicade. I just keep my fingers crossed and hope that my husband can stay on Remicade for a very very long time.

PV

As far as the whole notion that you can't restart remicade, it was more of a theory that was first used when people started developing antibodies. We initially tried to prevent my stopping remicade and the antibodies by going on methotrexate with the remicade and then mercaptapurine. Those helped the remicade become more effective but I soon started having liver issues so I had to stop them all. Cimzia had it's qualities but the problem was that it did nothing for the arthritis. Their copay assistance is still hands down the best and I never had to pay for the medication. When it became evident that cimzia was just not working, my new G.I. had exhausted all other medicinal options and asked about how i would feel about trying remicade again. He had a theory that resting the body without the medication and letting the body's normal chemistry return may let me buy some more good time on remicade. To make sure that I would prevent any allergic reactions or antibody reactions we premedicated with the cortisteroids and benedryl in higher than normal doses. I did not reload my remicade doses and went straight to the 10 per dose every 4 weeks. I began to notice good results right away and each infusion has got better. He has since started other patients back on remicade that were in my same situation. I honestly had only one option left, tsabri, and I am holding off on that until the remicade does not work any longer. I am definitely not in remission and am sick even as I write this post but I sure have a lot more good days and hours than I had on any other biologic.
There is still so much to learn about biologics and their uses. When remicade came out, it was thought to be the miracle drug for IBD. Things have changed so much since my first infusion. For the first few years that I was infused, the nurses would have to suit up in full protective mask, gown, elbow length gloves, and booties when they would start the remicade and undo the I.V. They were in full chemo protective clothing and even had me in a separate room from the other infusion patients. Oh how times have changed and the nurses just wear gloves and are not worried about compromising their own immune systems. The long term effects are still yet to be seen but so are the theories about the med.

Remicade - developed an allergic reaction and it never worked well anyway.

Humira - great success and it lasted 3 years. Saw a little blood one day, far more the next, and then it was super bad the next day and after that.

Cimzia - good success - took longer to help - on it one year now - so far, so good. Keeping my fingers crossed that it will last.

Remicade put me in remission but I stopped it after a year due to allergic reactions and loss of response.  Mastersmom, my GI says we may need to try it again, my rheumy doesn't think it's a good idea since I had bad reactions.  Most of what I find online says NOT to restart it, so I'm saving that as a last resort (which I am getting close to being at). 

Next, I did Cimzia on a clinical trial, so I was getting the full dose every 2 weeks instead of the 4 weeks that is now FDA approved.  I was on it for a year and it kept my Crohn's in remission but didn't completely get rid of the arthritis, so I switched to Humira when the clinical trial was up.  Humira didn't help much with the arthritis, so I switched back to Cimzia after about a year.  Now I've switched back to Humira again after about a year because I have less stomach pain on Humira than on Cimzia and neither are taking care of the arthritis.  Neither meds are working the whole 2 or 4 weeks for me and my docs say they can't get them approved more often.  

So, a year seems to be the average length for me. 

Wish I could tell you.

But biologics has been closed off to me as an avenue for treatment, since prohibitively expensive treatments + the NHS aren't really a match made in heaven. Although I see other UK people on here are on Remicade or Humira, so whatever. I just obviously have that air about me that ensures I constantly get fobbed off.

When my daughter stopped Humira for resection surgery (the theory being that Humira healed inflammation thus causing a stricture) and then tried to restart, she had a severe allergic reaction--hives in throat and on parts of the body which left scars for months. We were told this was a possibility. But later, doctors told us that the Humira may not have been restarted properly. They loaded her up again with high doses instead of just starting again with the regular dose. At the time, the Humira representative was suppose to be helping with information about the proper way of restarting but he was then unavailable (it was around the holidays) so the doctors may have bungled the restart.

A doctor at the Cleveland Clinic saw her body soon after the Humira reaction and said, "Wow, we don't want you to ever take that again." and then told her the following week, over the phone, after a scope that he wanted her to go back on Humira. I get so tired of feeling like I am babysitting doctors. I know they see million of patients but couldn't they just take a minute to review your case before they call? But I digress. . . .

Wow Linn. Your doctor seems to know more than any we have talked to. Her Humira restart was in 2008 and we have not found a doctor since that has even given us a hint that there was any possibility she could try it again after her allergic reaction.