Three New Treatments Bring Good News for People With Crohn's

When the body produces too much TNF-alpha, inflammatory diseases, such as Crohn's disease, can become more difficult to manage. Anti-TNF medications work by binding the tumor necrosis factor-alpha to blood cells and cell membranes which effectively blocks it.

Physicians have already been using anti-TNF medications in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis for many years, but it was only in 2006 that anti-TNF medications were approved to also treat Crohn's disease. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved infliximab (also called Remicade) in May of 2006 for use in treating children with Crohn's disease. Up until this point the treatment options for treating children with Crohn's disease had been very limited and inadequate.