Arthritis Support Group

There is an RA community that might also have more info. I suggest you post there as well. Sorry i have OA.

There are posts in the RA community about it:
Abatacept (Orencia) is the first agent developed in a class of drugs known as costimulation blockers for the treatment of RA. Orencia binds to CD80 and CD86 on antigen-presenting cells, blocking the engagement of CD28 on T cells and thereby preventing T cell activation.

There are many trials published comparing Orenica to placebo, MTX and prednisone and it certainly does look effective.
Dr O.

Thank-you to the both of you!

Orencia works differently than other RA treatments. Orencia generally works early in the RA inflammatory process and can reduce the activation of T cells, which reduces the activation of other cells in the RA inflammatory process. I receive Orencia and it works well for me (not as well as Remicade did, but I am allergic to that). Orencia works better in conjunction with methotrexate which I take onec a week as well. Orencia is given through IV. After the first infusion, you go again in two weeks, then again in two weeks, then every four weeks after that. You also need to get prior authorization from the insurance company. I hope this helps.