Long-term safety of abatacept in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Abatacept is a selective T cell co-stimulation modulator that was first approved by the Italian Medicines Agency and reimbursed by the Italian National Health Service when used to treat active rheumatoid arthritis "not sufficiently responsive to other disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) including at least one TNF inhibitor", and is now also approved as a first line biological agent. The aim of this review is to summarise the safety data collected in clinical trials and observational studies.