This grade answers one narrow question: how strong is the public evidence and safety record behind this drug, and how clean is its money trail and court record? It is not a verdict on whether the drug is right for you.
WARNING: SERIOUS INFECTIONS and MALIGNANCIES WARNING: SERIOUS INFECTIONS and MALIGNANCIES See full prescribing information for complete boxed warning. SERIOUS INFECTIONS Increased risk of serious infections leading to hospitalization or death, including tuberculosis (TB), bacterial sepsis, invasive fungal infections (such as histoplasmosis), and infections due to other opportunistic pathogens. ( 5.1 ) Enbrel should be discontinued if a patient develops a serious infection or sepsis during treatment. ( 5.1 ) Perform test for latent TB; if positive, start treatment for TB prior to starting Enbrel. ( 5.1 ) Monitor all patients for active TB during treatment, even if initial latent TB test is negative. ( 5.1 ) MALIGNANCIES Lymphoma and other malignancies, some fatal, have been reported in children and adolescent patients treated with TNF-blockers, including Enbrel. ( 5.3 ) SERIOUS INFECTIONS Patients treated with Enbrel are at increased risk for developing serious infections that may lead to hospitalization or death [see Warnings and Precautions (5.1) and Adverse Reactions (6) ] . Most patients who developed these infections were taking concomitant immunosuppressants such as methotrexa...
Listed on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines: a global expert panel judged it among the medicines a health system should always have, on evidence of value, not marketing.
Enbrel is a tumor necrosis factor (TNF) blocker indicated for the treatment of: Adult patients with: Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) ( 1.1 ) Psoriatic Arthritis (PsA) ( 1.3 ) Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) ( 1.4 ) Plaque Psoriasis (PsO) ( 1.5 ) Pediatric patients with: Polyarticular Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (pJIA), 2 years of age or older ( 1.2 ) Juvenile Psoriatic Arthritis, 2 years of age or older (JPsA) ( 1.6 ) Plaque Psoriasis, 4 years of age or older ( 1.5 ) 1.1 Rheumatoid Arthritis Enbrel is indicated for reducing signs and symptoms, inducing major clinical response, inhibiting the progression of structural damage, and improving physical function in patients with moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Enbrel can be initiated in combination with methotrexate (MTX) or used alone. 1.2 Polyarticular Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis Enbrel is indicated for reducing signs and symptoms of moderately to severely active polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis (pJIA) in patients 2 years of age and older. 1.3 Psoriatic Arthritis Enbrel is indicated for reducing signs and symptoms, inhibiting the progression of structural damage of active arthritis, and improving physical ...
Enbrel is contraindicated in patients with sepsis. Enbrel is contraindicated in patients with sepsis. ( 4 )
Do not start Enbrel during an active infection. If an infection develops, monitor carefully and stop Enbrel if infection becomes serious. ( 5.1 ) Consider empiric anti-fungal therapy for patients at risk for invasive fungal infections who develop a severe systemic illness on Enbrel (those who reside or travel to regions where mycoses are endemic). ( 5.1 ) Demyelinating disease, exacerbation or new onset, may occur. ( 5.2 ) Cases of lymphoma have been observed in patients receiving TNF-blocking agents. ( 5.3 ) Congestive heart failure, worsening or new onset, may occur. ( 5.4 ) Advise patients to seek immediate medical attention if symptoms of pancytopenia or aplastic anemia develop, and consider stopping Enbrel. ( 5.5 ) Monitor patients previously infected with hepatitis B virus for reactivation during and several months after therapy. If reactivation occurs, consider stopping Enbrel and beginning anti-viral therapy. ( 5.6 ) Anaphylaxis or serious allergic reactions may occur. ( 5.7 ) Stop Enbrel if lupus-like syndrome or autoimmune hepatitis develops. ( 5.9 ) 5.1 Serious Infections Patients treated with Enbrel are at increased risk for developing serious infections involving vario...
The following serious adverse reactions are discussed in greater detail in other sections of the labeling: Serious Infections [see Warnings and Precautions (5.1) ] Neurologic Reactions [see Warnings and Precautions (5.2) ] Malignancies [see Warnings and Precautions (5.3) ] Patients with Heart Failure [see Warnings and Precautions (5.4) ] Hematologic Reactions [see Warnings and Precautions (5.5) ] Hepatitis B Reactivation [see Warnings and Precautions (5.6) ] Allergic Reactions [see Warnings and Precautions (5.7) ] Autoimmunity [see Warnings and Precautions (5.9) ] Immunosuppression [see Warnings and Precautions (5.10) ] Most common adverse reactions (incidence > 5%): infections and injection site reactions. ( 6.1 ) To report SUSPECTED ADVERSE REACTIONS, contact Amgen Inc. at 1-800-77-AMGEN (1-800-772-6436) or FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088 or www.fda.gov/medwatch. 6.1 Clinical Trials Experience Across clinical studies and postmarketing experience, the most serious adverse reactions with Enbrel were infections, neurologic events, CHF, and hematologic events [see Warnings and Precautions (5) ] . The most common adverse reactions with Enbrel were infections and injection site reactions. Becaus...
Indications and Usage, Juvenile Psoriatic Arthritis ( 1.6 ) 10/2023 Dosage and Administration, Pediatric Patients ( 2.4 ) 10/2023
Source: FDA SPL label for ENBREL (Immunex Corporation), effective 20260511. Full label on DailyMed.
These are counts of reports people filed, not rates of harm. Anyone can file one, and nobody checks whether the drug was the cause. Millions of doses are taken for every report sent, so the useful part is how this drug compares with the average across all drugs.
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31,037 | 26,774 | 17,417 | 17,059 | 13,378 | 8,465 | 7,852 | 3,412 |
48,178 reports blaming this drug for every million Medicare prescriptions filled, which is 17.4× the typical drug on this site. (19,718 reports in 2024–2026, against 409,277 Medicare fills in one year. This is the one number here that accounts for how many people take the drug.)
Source: the FDA's Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS). Reports are voluntary and unverified. Drugs that are prescribed a lot, in the news, or in lawsuits attract more reports, so the percentages are compared with the whole database to correct for that partly, not fully.
Counts measure how much evidence exists and how transparent it is, not how big the benefit is. For that, ask your prescriber: if 100 people like me took this, how many would get better because of it, and how many would be harmed? (Doctors call these the "number needed to treat" and "number needed to harm.") It differs by condition and is the number drug ads leave out. Sources: PubMed, ClinicalTrials.gov.
In 2024, drug companies reported $656,059 in payments to US physicians and hospitals tied to this drug across 33,512 transactions (Enbrel $656,059).
No pending federal MDL names this drug or its brands.
Not named in any federal pharmaceutical settlement of $100M or more on record.
Sources: CMS Open Payments (Sunshine Act); Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation pending docket list; DOJ settlements as tabulated on Wikipedia with links to the primary record. State-court and individual suits are not included.
| Product | Fills | $/fill |
|---|---|---|
| Enbrel Sureclick | 296,022 | $7,895 |
| Enbrel | 80,845 | $7,827 |
| Enbrel Mini | 32,410 | $7,887 |
1 drug in the same class grades a letter or more higher than etanercept on this site. Worth asking whether one of them would do the same job for you.
Same ATC pharmacological class, graded ones first, best grade at the top. Being in the same class does not make them interchangeable for your condition; it makes them worth asking about.