What should you know about adalimumab injection pen?

The pen is intended for a single injection. Your dermatologist or nurse should demonstrate the exact device because the window, button and audible cues can differ between products.

Adalimumab blocks tumour necrosis factor, an immune-system signal involved in inflammation. The prefilled pen hides the needle and releases medicine into fatty tissue beneath the skin; it is not injected into a vein or muscle. Treatment may control inflammatory skin disease, but it also changes how the body responds to infection.

A little redness, tenderness or swelling can occur around the injection site. A pen with damaged packaging, an expired label, visible particles or liquid that looks unexpectedly cloudy should be set aside and checked with a pharmacist.

Follow the leaflet supplied with your specific pen. Wash and dry your hands, inspect the medicine, clean the chosen area and let the skin dry. Use the abdomen or thigh only if that location is permitted in your instructions, and avoid bruised, sore, scarred, hard or actively inflamed skin. Rotate sites rather than repeatedly using one spot.

Do not shake the pen, recap an exposed needle or reuse the device. Put the used pen straight into an approved sharps container. Keep unused pens in their original packaging and follow the product's refrigeration and travel instructions. If a dose is missed, contact the prescribing team or pharmacist for product-specific advice instead of doubling the next dose.

Get urgent help for trouble breathing, swelling of the face or throat, faintness or a rapidly spreading rash after an injection. Contact the treating team promptly for fever, persistent cough, shortness of breath, painful urination, an infected wound, unusual bruising, yellowing of the eyes or skin, or new weakness or vision changes.

Report a needle-stick injury or a pen that leaked, failed to activate or did not appear to deliver the full dose. Do not repeat the injection unless a clinician or pharmacist who understands the device tells you to do so.

Ask which signs of infection should delay your next injection, what screening is needed before and during treatment, and how to handle the pen during travel. Confirm which vaccines are suitable, because live vaccines may not be appropriate while immune activity is suppressed.