LIVERPOOL, UK – Biologics do not increase the risk of cancer recurrence in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), according to newly published data from the British Society for Rheumatology Biologics Registry Study – Rheumatoid Arthritis (BSRBR-RA). In addition, among RA patients with a history of malignancy, the risk of cancer recurrence was significantly reduced by about 50% in those treated with biologics compared to those treated with non-biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (nbDMARD). The results were presented at the annual meeting of the British Society of Rheumatology by Dr. Yao Hemming of the Department of Rheumatology and Immunology at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Guiyang Traditional Chinese Medicine, but he also pointed out that the risk of cancer recurrence at the start of treatment may be higher in those treated with nbDMARD than in those treated with biologics, so this data does not indicate that biologics are less likely to cause cancer recurrence than traditional RA treatments. In addition, patients treated with anti-(tumor necrosis factor) TNF drugs or rituximab are more likely to develop cancer. The British Society for Rheumatology published 4 years ago a study of patients with RA with a history of malignancy treated with biologics (Arthritis Care Res. 2010;62:755-63). At that time, the BSRBR enrolled more than 14,000 patients with RA, from which the researchers selected 293 patients with a history of malignancy. At the time of this study, the BSRBR had enrolled approximately 19,000 patients, and the number of patients with a history of malignancy included in this study had increased to 425. 159 of 3,787 patients treated with nbDMARD had new malignancies (1.7%) and 243 of 14,168 patients treated with anti-TNF agents had new malignancies (8.9%). (8.9%), and 23 of 257 patients receiving rituximab (4.2%) were found to have new malignancies in vivo. There were several differences in the baseline characteristics of the three groups: mean age was 66.1, 62.7, and 67.3 years, respectively; a higher proportion of patients in the anti-TNF group were female (81%) than in the nbDMARD group (74%) and the rituximab group (65%); and the mean duration of RA at recruitment in the biologic group (12 years in the anti-TNF group and 14 years in the rituximab group). The median time interval between initial and recurrent malignancies was 7.9 years in the nbDMARD group, compared with 11.5 years in the anti-TNF group and 5.4 years in the rituximab group. Dr. Luca Silva-Fernandez explained: Because of differences in baseline characteristics, no simple comparison can be made between the nbDMARD and biologic treatment groups, and therefore it cannot be made that anti-TNF drugs have a “protective effect” against cancer recurrence. The “protective effect” of anti-TNF drugs on cancer recurrence cannot be asserted.