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Infliximab is usually given through a drip into a vein in your arm (infusion). Some hospitals may offer the option to take infliximab by injection. This is using a pre-filled pen or syringe that you inject yourself under your skin (subcutaneous injection)
If you are having infusions, you will have all of your doses in hospital.
If you are having injections, you will have your first two doses in hospital as an infusion. Then, either you or a family member will be trained to give the injection. You can then take the rest of your doses as injections at home.
Yes, if you are having injections.
No, if you are having infusions.
Infusions
You will have two infusions in the first two weeks. You will have another infusion four weeks later. You will then have an infusion every eight weeks.
Injections
Your first dose will be given by infusion in hospital, with another infusion in hospital two weeks later. Four weeks later, you will have your first injection. You will then give yourself injections at home every 2 weeks.
You may feel better soon after starting treatment – but you’ll probably need 2 or 3 doses before you feel better.
If you respond to infliximab and have no serious side effects, you are likely to carry on taking it for a year. After that, your treatment plan may be extended. Your IBD team will continue to check that infliximab is still working well for you.
During treatment, you will need to have regular blood tests. Your IBD team will tell you how often you need blood tests.
In clinical trials:
38% of people with Crohn’s who were taking infliximab had their Crohn’s under control (in remission) after one year.
29% of people with Colitis who were taking infliximab were in remission after one year.
Infliximab does not affect fertility.
Infliximab is generally considered safe during pregnancy. Your IBD team may advise the safest option is to keep taking it during pregnancy, to keep your Crohn’s or Colitis under control.
It is recommended that if you take infliximab during your pregnancy, your baby should not be given live vaccines until they are at least 12 months old.
Our effectiveness information is based on the best sources of evidence available at the time of writing. These are all calculated in different ways, and therefore they cannot be used to directly compare the effectiveness of different medicines.
Some of the different ways that the evidence is collected include:
Induction/maintenance treatment
Induction treatment is treatment that aims to reduce the inflammation in your gut and get your Crohn's or Colitis under control. Once your Crohn's or Colitis is under control, treatment aims to keep it under control. This is called maintenance treatment. Some clinical trials look at how well a medicine works as induction treatment. Some look at how well it works as maintenance treatment. Some look at how well it works for both.
Where the data comes from
The sources of evidence available for each medicine may be different. Some evidence will come from systematic reviews, which review all of the available data and results from studies on a specific topic. They use strict criteria and assess the quality of each study included. For new medicines, there may not be enough studies to conduct a systematic review yet. So, we use data from other studies such as pivotal trials. Pivotal trials are clinical trials that confirm that a new medicine is safe and works well.
People included in the studies
Sometimes studies look at how well a medicine works in people who have taken other medicines before, such as biologics, compared to people who haven’t taken those medicines. And other studies don’t. Different studies also include people with differing severity of Crohn’s or Colitis.
Length of treatment
Different clinical trials give people medicine for different lengths of time, meaning they can not be used to directly compare medicines against each other. Some clinical trials look at how well a medicine worked after a year, some look at how well a medicine worked after 58 weeks. Some may use a different length of time.
These are just some of the factors that mean we are unable to directly compare the effectiveness of different medicines.
All medicines can have side effects, but not everyone will get them. Some side effects can happen right away, others may happen later. Some side effects are mild and may go away on their own, or after you stop taking the medicine. Others may be more serious and could need treatment. Some side effects might mean that a medicine is not right for you.
This Medicine Tool does not include a full list of side effects. For more information about side effects of a medicine, search for the medicine on the Electronic Medicines Compendium (EMC) website to find the patient information leaflet. This link takes you to an external website.
We know it can be difficult to live with, or support someone living with these conditions. But you’re not alone. We provide up-to-date, evidence-based information and can support you to live well with Crohn’s or Colitis.
Our helpline team can help by:
Providing information about Crohn’s and Colitis.
Listening and talking through your situation.
Helping you to find support from others in the Crohn’s and Colitis community.
Providing details of other specialist organisations.
Please be aware we’re not medically or legally trained. We cannot provide detailed financial or benefits advice or specialist emotional support.
Please contact us via telephone, email or LiveChat - 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday (except English bank holidays).
If you need specific medical advice about your condition, your GP or IBD team will be best placed to help.
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