Cosentyx 101: Uses, Side Effects Interactions (Also ... Be Careful Taking With These 2 Conditions)

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What Is Cosentyx Used To Treat?

Cosentyx is one of the newer injectable medications on the market that's used to treat a number of different inflammatory-based conditions.

Those include Plaque Psoriasis, Psoriatic Arthritis, Ankylosing Spondylitis, and Axial Spondyloarthritis

Cosentyx MOA (Mechanism of Action)

I mentioned above that Cosentyx works by decreasing inflammation. Specifically, it does that by blocking interleukins.

The end result is a decrease in the release of cytokines and chemokines. These are substances that are involved in the inflammatory process.

But remember inflammation can be bad when there's too much of it. But it's also one of the first steps in your immune response which is a good thing.

So even though blocking interleukins sounds like a good thing in the late stages - it can also bring on some side effects which I’ll get to in a second.

How Is Cosentyx Dosed?

The dosing of Cosentyx changes a lot based off what you're treating.

But by and large you're going to see Cocentyx started with a loading dose and then moved to a maintenance dose.

It's a subcutaneous injection and the loading dose is usually 300 mg subcutaneously once a week for the first 5 weeks.

Then you move on to the maintenance dose which can vary from 150 mg to 300 mg every 4 weeks.

One of the downsides of Cosentyx is that to get the 300 mg dose requires two injections because the drug is only available in 150 milligram strength.

How Long Does It Take To Start Working?

This is a really good question and can vary from person to person.

But I like to use the 3 months rule of thumb. That means for most people you'll start noticing a difference by three months out.

In studies some people have noticed the difference is early as one month. Other people require more like 16 weeks before they see a difference it’s something you definitely have to be patient with.

What Are The Side Effects of Cosentyx?

The most common side effect you'll see with it by a long shot is increased infection rates.

This can happen in anywhere from 29% to 48% of people in studies. The types of infections can vary from the herpes virus, staph and upper respiratory tract infections.

Other less common side effects are going to be diarrhea in 3% - 4% of people. Headaches occur in around 2% of people.

It's important to remember that some people can actually see their cholesterol levels increase. But this only happens in about 2% of people.

The one thing I want to point out if you have Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis Cosentyx can actually make those things worse. It's a very small chance that this will happen but it's something important for you and your doctor and all about.

What About Weight Gain or Hair Loss With Cosentyx?

In studies there weren’t any reports of weight gain or hair loss with Cosentyx. In fact, you're more likely to see weight loss because some of the side effects can be diarrhea and infections. So people are more likely to not be eating less when taking it.

Is It Safe to Take With My Other Medications?

A general rule of thumb here is that you don't want to take it with anything that can lower your immune system. Couple of examples would be cyclosporine or tacrolimus.

What About Monitoring?

Before your doctor starts you on this they're going to make sure to get a tuberculosis test done.

They're also going to keep an eye out for any signs or symptoms of irritable bowel disease.

Like a lot of other injectable medications Cosentyx can get pretty expensive - especially if you don't have good insurance.

So I'm going to make sure to include a link to their website where they talk about some of their financial assistance programs.

These are going to vary based off whether you can qualify for them or not. But it's worth having the information available so at least you can check into it: https://www.cosentyx.com/treatment-cost