Infliximab

Also known as: infusion therapy, Remicade infusion process.

What is infliximab?

Infliximab is a strong form of medication, known as a biologic that’s used to treat severe conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, spinal arthritis, and skin diseases. The medication is administered intravenously during doctor visits.

What happens during the treatment?

An intravenous line (IV) is started and then an IV bag and a catheter is connected to the IV in order to give the medication directly into a vein over the course of two hours. This is often done in a doctor’s office.

Is any special preparation needed?

Infliximab is strong medication with potentially serious side effects. A number of tests will be conducted to determine if you are a good candidate for the medication. You may need to take other medications before using infliximab to prevent side effects from the medication.

What are the risk factors?

A wide range of side effects ranging from nausea and headaches to potentially serious ones like allergic reaction, seizures, chest pain and dangerous infections are all possible complications of infliximab. Patients should be under close care and monitoring when taking this medication.


Reviewed by: Carrie Firestone Baum, MD

This page was last updated on: April 22, 2021 03:42 PM