[Biological treatments for rheumatology : specific situations and risks]

This article draws attention to some specific situations and risks associated with new biological and targeted antirheumatic treatments, beyond the classic infectious and oncological risks. Although these therapies raise cholesterol levels, their cardiovascular effect is overall protective, and we must avoid introducing systematically lipid-lowering treatment without a concerted assessment. Similarly, while caution is advised with JAK inhibitors in patients at risk of thromboembolism, inflammatory disease remains the major risk factor. Finally, persistent anemia on anti-IL-6 is probably not of inflammatory origin and merits further investigation, whereas increased creatine kinases and serum creatinine on JAK inhibitors are trivial and generally of no clinical relevance.