Regeneron While taking Humira Any information??

[Pam.estella]

This is only my 2nd post and hoping somebody might know or have advice. Our son (17) started Humira back in May after a partial obstruction. He is symptom free and labs are good (they were before except for Calprotectin) Anyway... he has been exposed to Covid and is unvaccinated because we and his doctor think he had Covid earlier this year. We have the option to give him Regeneron, but unsure about combining. Has anybody heard or have thoughts about combining this with Humira? It seems like Humira might already function the same anyway. His GI doctor referred to Ped who wanted to know if the GI had a recommendation. Sigh....

 

[my little penguin]

https://www.fda.gov/media/143894/download

 

[Pam.estella]

I have read all of the FDA media material. I just haven't found any specific information about combining that many antibodies. It seems likely that they don't know, but maybe somebody has other data?

 

[my little penguin]

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.19.20039008v2.full.pdf

 

[my little penguin]

There isn’t any data on combining .
New study on an antiviral pill and immunocompromised that has fda emergency approval
But nothing on infusion….side of monoclonal
They are just putting all the data together on the vaccine /biologics in ibd and response rate which won’t be done for the study for 12 more months (my kiddo is in one study )
So I wouldn’t expect anything to be published on this yet for immunocompromised

 

[my little penguin]

Antiviral Pill Lowers Risks of COVID-19 Hospitalization, Death

Merck reports that its antiviral molnupiravir was effective against early stages of COVID-19 in high-risk patients in a Phase 3 clinical trial.

www.the-scientist.com

 

[Pangolin]

Just curious, why not wait until he experiences symptoms before using regeneron? Also keep in mind that even unvaccinated 17 year olds are generally not at high risk from covid.

 

[Scipio]

It seems like Humira might already function the same anyway.

I haven't seen any data about combining the antibodies in question, but I can't think of a theoretical reason why it should be harmful.. But of course reality does not always line up with theory.

However, Humira and the Regeneron anti-COVID therapy definitely do not function the same way. Humira partially supresses the immune system by binding with and inactivating TNF - a protein made by your immune system that helps to stimulate some immune responses. The Regeneron drug attacks the COVID virus directly. It binds with a viral protein on the surface of the viral particle that prevents it from entering and infecting human cells, thereby short-circuiting the virus's ability to reproduce.

The Regeneron drug is basically trying to imitate some of the antibodies that you would produce on your own to fight the virus in response to a COVID infection. Getting those antibodies into your system sooner by injection rather than waiting for your immune system to produce them increases the chances that your immune system will get and keep the upper hand, and thus the infection will remain mild and harmless.

 

[Pam.estella]

Thanks for that

Just curious, why not wait until he experiences symptoms before using regeneron? Also keep in mind that even unvaccinated 17 year olds are generally not at high risk from covid.

We are planning to wait and see if he even gets sick, just wanted to be able to make an informed decision if he does get sick. There is a window of 9 days from onset of symptoms, but the delay would come in scheduling so we will have to decide sooner rather than later.

 

[Pam.estella]

I haven't seen any data about combining the antibodies in question, but I can't think of a theoretical reason why it should be harmful.. But of course reality does not always line up with theory.

However, Humira and the Regeneron anti-COVID therapy definitely do not function the same way. Humira partially supresses the immune system by binding with and inactivating TNF - a protein made by your immune system that helps to stimulate some immune responses. The Regeneron drug attacks the COVID virus directly. It binds with a viral protein on the surface of the viral particle that prevents it from entering and infecting human cells, thereby short-circuiting the virus's ability to reproduce.

The Regeneron drug is basically trying to imitate some of the antibodies that you would produce on your own to fight the virus in response to a COVID infection. Getting those antibodies into your system sooner by injection rather than waiting for your immune system to produce them increases the chances that your immune system will get and keep the upper hand, and thus the infection will remain mild and harmless.

Thank you! That was the information I have been looking for. It sure seems like it could work in theory....surprised there isn't more information about the combination since it seems like Humira is a widely prescribed drug.

 

[crohnsinct]

You could ask an infectious disease doc at your son's hospital, they would be more likely to have real world experience on the combination side of things.

 

[Maya142]

Yes, I would also consult Infectious Diseases - as you say, Humira is pretty widely prescribed now for a number of indications, so hopefully there will be docs who have had to deal with this decision before.

 

[Pam.estella]

Thought I would update everyone here to say that our son never did get sick. So grateful for that! I did ask infectious disease & they said that there weren't any contraindications between Humira & Regeneron.