Biological treatment is gaining more and more supporters. It is a hope for many chronically and terminally ill people. Check what are the indications and contraindications for the use of biological treatment and what side effects it may have.

Biological treatmentinhibits the overreaction of the immune system.Biological drugswork quickly, and this is one of their greatest benefits. It is equally important to influence specific mechanisms taking place in the body. As a result, they are effective and significantly reduce the symptoms of the disease. Therefore, they significantly improve the patient's quality of life. Biological drugs are also very convenient to use.

Biological treatment: indications

  • some cancers
  • leukemias
  • viral hepatitis
  • hemophilia
  • cystic fibrosis
  • asthma
  • rheumatoid arthritis
  • inflammatory bowel disease
  • psoriasis

There are also attempts to use biological drugs in the treatment of atopic dermatitis.

Important

Biological drugs- a characteristic feature of this type of drugs is the fact that in the process of their development, natural biological substances are used or the mechanisms occurring in the human body are imitated in order to achieve a sufficiently strong response the body. Therefore, they are closely related to biologically active molecules that naturally occur in the human body. They imitate the functions of normal human proteins, influence the interactions of various biologically active molecules in our body, they also modify the work of cell receptors, making them more sensitive or insensitive to various substances. In a word, they work exactly where they are needed. Biological drugs are produced by biotechnology and use molecular biology and genetic engineering.

Biological treatment: contraindications

People suffering from chronic, incurable diseases place great hopes in biological medicines. Those lucky enough to take advantage of them got to know a new quality of life. In many cases, the troublesome symptoms have subsided or they have weakened so much that it was possible to return to work and be fully independent.But it is not a therapy for all patients. The patient is qualified for biological therapy after many tests have been performed. The main criteria that exclude the use of biological drugs are:

  • severe / moderate general condition of the patient
  • moderate / severe infectious disease
  • tuberculosis (active and latent)
  • chronic and opportunistic infections
  • severe / moderate cardiovascular failure, respiratory failure, liver failure, renal failure, neoplastic diseases (except for the registration of a specific biological drug),
  • autoimmune diseases (except biological drug registration indications),
  • neurological diseases (except registration indications).
  • optic neuritis

Relative contraindications are also viral hepatitis and HIV, as well as hypersensitivity to any of the components of the drug.

Biological treatment: possible side effects

Biological treatments are usually well tolerated, but of course side effects may arise. The frequency of side effects, their nature and severity vary depending on the mechanism of action of the biological drug. Drugs that affect the immune system reduce the body's natural ability to fight infections, viruses and fungi. Among other things, they may increase the risk of infection with mycobacteria,Pneumocystis carinii ,Listeria monocytogenesandLegionellaor mycosis. Fungal infections are also common.

Biological treatments can also affect the circulatory system and lead to heart failure. In the case of multiple sclerosis, biological drugs can reveal them, and in already diagnosed people - aggravate symptoms.

Taking certain medications is associated with a local reaction at the injection site. In other cases, after the use of biological therapy, latent (latent) tuberculosis may develop or develop a strong autoimmune reaction, which will be life-threatening. Consequently, it is not possible to define the same contraindications for all biological drugs as their effect (mechanism of action) on the immune system is different.

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