Executive Summary

• Remicade has major side effects that need to be understood.

Introduction

The side effects of Remicade are enormous and very serious.

The Remicade Side Effects

Here are the side effects of Remicade from Medical News Today.

Serious side effects from Remicade aren’t common, but they can occur. Call your doctor right away if you have serious side effects. Call 911 if your symptoms feel life threatening or if you think you’re having a medical emergency.

Serious side effects and their symptoms can include:

New or worsening heart failure. Symptoms can include:
shortness of breath
edema (swelling, typically in your ankles and feet)
sudden weight gain
Heart attack. Symptoms can include:
chest pain or discomfort
arm pain
shortness of breath
anxiety
lightheadedness or fainting
sweating
nausea or vomiting
Abnormal heart rhythms. Symptoms can include:
fast or slow heart rate
fluttering heart rate
pounding in the chest
Stroke. Symptoms can include:
weakness on one side of the body
confusion
trouble speaking or understanding others
trouble seeing in one or both of the eyes
trouble standing or walking
dizziness
severe headache
Liver problems. Symptoms can include:
tiredness
fever
jaundice (yellowing of your skin and the white of your eyes)
dark-colored urine
pain on the right side of your belly
Blood disorders, such as a low level of white blood cells. Symptoms can include:
bruising or bleeding easily
pale skin
fever that lasts longer than 48 hours
frequent infections
Nervous system disorders, such as seizures or vision problems. Symptoms can include:
numbness or tingling of body parts
weakness in your arms or legs
vision loss or changes in how you see color
New or worsening psoriasis (a condition in which itchy, red patches form on your skin). Symptoms include:
scaly, red patches on skin
raised bumps on skin that are filled with pus
Infusion reactions (symptoms or side effects that typically occur within 2 hours of your infusion). Symptoms can include:
itchy skin
rash
fever
chills (feeling cold for no reason)
chest pain
low or high blood pressure
trouble breathing
Certain cancers,* such as lymphomas (cancers of the lymphatic system). Symptoms can include:
swollen lymph nodes
bone pain
fatigue (lack of energy)
Other serious side effects, explained in more detail below in “Side effect details,” include:

allergic reaction
lupus-like syndrome (an immune system reaction)
serious infections,* such as tuberculosis (TB) or hepatitis B

Do these side effects seem odd to you? Why would a drug cause lymphoma?

What Are the FDA’s Boxed Warnings?

This quote shows the warnings required by the FDA for Remicade.

This drug has boxed warnings. These are the most serious warnings from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). A boxed warning alerts doctors and patients about drug effects that may be dangerous.

Actually, that is the medical establishment’s presentation of what a boxed warning is. However, our take is that boxed warnings are used in lieu of retracting the approval for a drug that should never have been approved in the first place. Whether it comes to drug safety, or bioequivalence of drugs made overseas, the FDA does not admit mistakes. They will come up with almost anything to keep from admitting mistakes and will cover up things to keep from looking bad. The boxed warning is one of the ways they do this. It is their way of placing the responsibility on the consumer or patient. One question that should be asked is how Remicade was ever approved in the first place — and the answer is that the FDA has major financial conflicts with pharmaceutical companies.

Sepsis?

Risk of serious infections

Taking Remicade can increase your risk for serious infections that may lead to a hospital stay or death. These infections include sepsis (a severe response to an infection, which may lead to severe problems, including death), a kind of lung infection called tuberculosis (TB), and histoplasmosis (a fungal infection similar to pneumonia). They also include infections that usually affect people with weakened immune systems. During your treatment, your doctor will monitor you closely for signs of an infection. If you do develop a serious infection, they’ll likely have you stop taking Remicade. Before you start using Remicade, your doctor will test you for TB. If you have TB, it’ll need to be treated before you begin Remicade treatment.

This means that Remicade compromises the entire immune system.

This topic was covered in the previous comment #6. And the question should be asked — why is a drug producing a severe and even fatal response to an infection?

And the answer can be found in the following quote.

Remicade can weaken your immune system and make it harder for you to fight off infections.

This means that Remicade does not act as an immunomodulator but as an immunosuppressant — which means the body is then vulnerable to all other types of attacks. This is something that will become apparent again in the section on cancer. Notice how this issue is reframed in the following quote.