Remicade

G

gramo18

New Member
I am strongly considering going to flight school to fill my dream of becoming a pilot. I have a medical condition that I hope will not effect me getting a class 1 medical. Do you know if my remicade treatment that I take every 3 months would prohibit me from passing the exam? Thanks for all the help and insight you can provide.
Graham
 
It is not the medication but the underlying disease that may be the problem. The diseases generally treated with Remicade include Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis ans psoriasis. What the FAA will want is a copy of all medical records related to the underlying disease, a letter from the treating physician providing your complete medical history, a complete physical examination and supporting studies related to the underlying disease and studies recommended to follow Remicade effectiveness and side effects. The letter will have to include a statement regarding the current status of the underlying disease and whether or not there are any side effects from Remicade. These will need to be sent to the FAA in OKC for their review. They will make the decision regarding a Special Issuance medical certificate.

This being said, if things look good (the disease is stable and well controlled with no side effects) the odds are heavily in your favor they will issue the certificate.

I would go to the AME and have the documents reviewed before they are sent to OKC. It is my experience that in spite of sending clear instructions to phsyicians regarding what is needed for submission, they frequently don't write the letter correctly resulting in delays. Most denials are do the pilot not providing the information the FAA has requested.

I would be sure the AME is pro-active for you. If you do not have a relationship with an AME, ask around. If you can't find someone, the folks at www.aviationmedicine.com or www.leftseat.com have services where they will help you. (for a fee of course:nana2: ).

Good luck:)
 
If you have RA, did you you choose Remicade over something else? I have the choice of Remicade or Humira to make in the next couple of days. Anybody know if one is better than the other? The only thing I see so far is one is injected 1X a week, the other 2X a month. It almost sounds from my AME that the FAA likes Humira
 
Vol 41, No 4 of the Federal Air Surgeon's Bulletin states Humira is NOT acceptable for use. That was in the winter of 2003 but I have not seen anything since from the FAA stating differently. Remicade is on an unofficial list of drugs approved in the past.

If you find any newer information, let me know.
 
I meant Humira or Enbrel were my two choices, sorry. Either way, looks like both are approved as per my AME and the AOPA website. I don't have any regs. to back it up though.
 
Enbrel is on the "approved" list but I have not seen anything else official other than the reference I made to the Federal Air Surgeon's bulletin where it specifically stated Humira was not approved. They may have changed their point of view since they published that inforamtion though.
 
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