The FDA released an advance Communication regarding an Ongoing Safety Review to inform health care professionals that the Agency is looking into a potential connection between the use of Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) blockers and the maturation of lymphoma and other cancers in children and young adults. FDA is investigating around 30 reports. The reports were presented to the FDA’s Adverse Event Reporting System during a ten-year period, starting in 1998 through April 29, 2008.

These reports identify cancer occurring in children and young adults who started taking TNF blockers (and other immuno-suppressive medicines such as methotrexate, azathioprine or 6-mercaptopurine), while they were ages 18 or less, to treat juvenile idiopathic arthritis, Crohn’s disease or other diseases. Around 1/2 of the cancers were lymphomas, including  Hodgkin’s and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Long-term studies are required to render conclusive replies about whether TNF blockers increase the happening of cancers in children since cancers could take a long time to arise and may not be observed in short-term studies. Until the evaluation is finished, healthcare providers, parents, and caregivers should be mindful of the conceivable risk of lymphoma and other cancers in children and young adults when choosing how to better treat these patients.

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