How is Orencia (abatacept) different from Enbrel, Humira, Remicade, and Anakinra? What is its mechanism of action?

Are these drugs? What do they purport to treat? None of the names sound familiar to me.

I don’t know too many particulars about any of these drugs except for Humira and Remicade. They are all biologics that are used for treating autoimmune disease. Remicade contains mouse proteins while Humira contains human proteins. I think these drugs work in essentially the same way. I know that Remicade is often used before Humira, and that if Remicade stops working for you, it is likely that Humira will stop working soon as well. Wish I knew more about the other three to help you out, sorry.

Orencia works by binding to the B7 protein on antigen presenting cells (APCs) and preventing them from delivering the costimulatory signal to T cells, thus preventing the full activation of T cells. It is typically used to treat rheumatoid arthritis.

Enbrel is a tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitor, functioning as a decoy receptor that binds to TNF. It is typically used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and plaque psoriasis.

Humira binds specifically to TNF-alpha and blocks its interaction with specific cell surface TNF receptors. It is used for rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, crohn’s disease, and plaque psoriasis.

Remicade also blocks TNF-alpha. It’s used for rheumatoid arthritis, crohn’s disease, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, uveitis, and sarcoidosis.

Anakinra blocks the biologic activity of naturally occurring interleukin-1 (IL-1), including inflammation and cartilage degradation associated with rheumatoid arthritis, by competitively inhibiting the binding of IL-1 to the Interleukin-1 type receptor. It’s used for rheumatoid arthritis.

There is a lot more behind the mechanisms of action for each of this related to the chemistry of how they work in the body. Basically, Orencia is different because it works on different types of cells compared to the others.

Talking with a pharmacist or your doctor about all of this would be the best bet for getting a good understanding of how each of these work and which one may work the best for you (if you need them).