What biologic has worked best for you? And what side effects did you deal with?

Out of fear, I have avoided biologics, but it has come to the point where I may need to embark down that path. Curious to hear everyone's experiences both good and bad.

My son has been on remicade since late September. It's worked very well for him. A couple of the infusions didn't seem to work completely and we had to keep the intervals at 4 weeks. We've uped the dose and are going 5 weeks this time (it's been 4.5 weeks right now and no problems) and hopefully 6 weeks next time. We added lialda to try to help that happen as well as Canasa suppositories as needed. It hasn't been perfect but it's been very good for him compared to how bad he was before. It works almost immediately for him. Right now he has no symptoms.

No side effects so far (by the grace of God). He had one minor skin infection that cleared up in a few days of antibiotics but he's had a couple of those years before beginning Remicade so I can't say it had anything to do with the medication.

I fully understand the fear regarding biologics, however, I finally decided to try and am using Humira. I have been on it for 9 weeks and saw significant improvement at the 6 week mark. I have zero side effects, the injection takes 10 seconds to do and quite frankly I don't find that it hurts. I do believe I am in remission which will be confirmed via colonoscopy in a few weeks. I have been able to eat all sorts of food that I couldn't before like cabbage, popcorn, nuts, beans, etc. and I only go once or twice a day and it's normal!! It's like I am trying to push the envelope with food to see if it's really remission because I keep thinking it's too good to be true but I think it is! I wish I would have started it sooner. Good luck in whichever biologic you choose.

Remicade and nothing more than a headache during the induction phase.

They lower your immunity which in my case[58 yo male in good shape-6'5-230lbs] isn't great being i lost my spleen when i was 18. All our immune systems get weaker as we get older,so i would rather get my colon removed instead of weakening my immune system further.Me getting Pnuemonia could kill me[Glenn Frye????] so I'm looking around now for the right surgeon-good luck

Biologics are only available from a speciality mail order pharmacy, like express scripts or cvs caremark. Use your health insurer's preferred specialty pharmacy for the lowest cost.

Biologics are listed under injectable medications and usually have different copays and deducibles than what you're taking now.

The medication manufacturers have patient assistance cards that help keep things affordable. I use remistart for remicade and they pay for the deductibles, copays, and other out of pocket costs for the medication which is by far the biggest expense (not the IV injection or nurse's time which is far smaller). The medication itself is billed at $6,400, insurance disallows about half of it to $3,200, and insurance and remistart pay all but $5. I end up paying $5 out of pocket (required by remistart) every 6 weeks. It's less expensive than what some pay for their Lialda. I believe the nurse and IV charges are around $160 but my insurance picks up all but the $50 copay for my specialist doctor office visit (as my gasteroenterologist office gives me remicade). These programs can't be used with any employer or government assistance program like medicare, or a tax-deferred FSA or HSA.

Here's info on the various biologic copay programs. They're all similar.

*Entyvio /www.entyvio.com/hub/
*Humira www.myhumira.com/InsuranceHelp/FAQ.aspx
*Remicade www.remistart.com/
*Simponi
www.simponi.com/sites/default/files/pdf/simponione-cost-support.pdf

Humira and simponi are the cheapest total cost, as you can do them as self injections at home. No nurse time for them.

Yeah, didn't mention, but I'm on medicare now. Just started in Nov. so still unfamiliar with all the different aspects of it, especially the prescription plan. Don't know how strict they are about only using drugs on their lists, but I think it might be a no-go if it's not on the list. But how was I supposed to know last November that I might be taking a biologic? Stupid that they only cover some drugs and not all. Well, we'll see after next week.

I'm getting my Apriso for free from Salix, so hopefully whatever I end up on will work out too.

I was reading on the Entyvio site that they cover the cost (minus the $5 copay) up to $20,000. But what do they base that figure on? If it's the retail cost, then that's used up in 4 doses. I guess if they go by what Insurance allows, it could maybe last the whole year? Have you ran into that?

Swalke25 what did you try before Simponi?