Abatacept: uses, dosing, side effects & brands
Abatacept is a medicine sold in the U.S. under one brand, for juvenile arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis. Below: what the FDA label says, every product that contains it, what the pills look like, and its recall record.
Key facts
- Treats (across its forms)
- Juvenile Arthritis, Rheumatoid Arthritis and Psoriatic Arthritis
- Available as
- Injectable · Solution
- Sold as
- Orencia
- Prescription?
- Prescription only
- Generic available?
- Not in our catalog
How abatacept is dosed
From the FDA label for Orencia (application BLA125118). Other abatacept products — different forms, different strengths — are dosed differently. Follow the label for the one you were prescribed.
Intravenous Use for Adult RA (2.1) and Adult PsA (2.3) • Administer at 0, 2, and 4 weeks, and every 4 weeks thereafter, as a 30-minute infusion Body Weight of Patient Dose Number of Vials Less than 60 kg 500 mg 2 60 to 100 kg 750 mg 3 More than 100 kg 1,000 mg 4 Subcutaneous Use for Adult RA (2.1) • Prior to the first subcutaneous dose, may administer an optional loading dose as a single intravenous infusion as per body weight categories above. • Administer 125 mg by subcutaneous injection once weekly (within a day of the intravenous infusion if infusion given). • Patients switching from intravenous use to subcutaneous use, administer first subcutaneous dose instead of next scheduled intravenous dose. Intravenous Use for pJIA in Pediatric Patients ≥6 Years Old (2.2) • Pediatric patients weighing <75 kg administer 10 mg/kg intravenously and those weighing ≥75 kg administer the adult intravenous dosing regimen (not to exceed a maximum dose of 1,000 mg), as a 30-minute infusion. • Subsequently administer infusions at 2 and 4 weeks and every 4 weeks thereafter. Subcutaneous Use for pJIA and PsA in Pediatric Patients ≥2 Years Old (2.2) • Administer subcutaneously without an intravenous loading dose Body Weight of Pediatric Patient Dose (once weekly) 10 kg to less than 25 kg 50 mg 25 kg to less than 50 kg 87.5 mg 50 kg or more 125 mg Subcutaneous Use for Adult PsA ( 2.3 ) •…
Abatacept side effects
The following clinically significant adverse reactions are described elsewhere in the labeling: • Increased Risk of Infection with Concomitant Use with TNF Antagonists, Other Biologic RA/PsA Therapy, or JAK Inhibitors [see Warnings and Precautions (5.1) ] • Hypersensitivity Reactions [see Warnings and Precautions (5.2) ] • Infections [see Warnings and Precautions (5.3) ] • Increased Risk of Adverse Reactions When Used in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) [see Warnings and Precautions (5.5) ] • Immunosuppression [see Warnings and Precautions (5.6) ] • Cytomegalovirus (CMV) and Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) Reactivation in aGVHD Prophylaxis after Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant (HSCT) [see Warnings and Precautions (5.7) ] • Most common adverse events (≥10%) in RA are headache, upper respiratory tract infection, nasopharyngitis, and nausea. (6.1) • Most common adverse reactions (≥10%) in prophylaxis of aGVHD are anemia, hypertension, CMV reactivation/CMV infection, pyrexia, pneumonia, epistaxis, CD4 lymphocytes decreased, hypermagnesemia, and acute kidney injury. (6.1) To report SUSPECTED ADVERSE REACTIONS, contact Bristol-Myers Squibb at 1-800-721-5072 or FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088 or www.fda.gov/medwatch . 6.1 Clinical Trials Experience Because clinical trials are conducted under widely varying and controlled conditions, adverse reaction rates observed in…
Who shouldn’t take abatacept
None. None. (4)
Abatacept drug interactions
7.1 Immunosuppressants Concomitant administration of a TNF antagonist with ORENCIA has been associated with an increased risk of serious infections and no significant additional efficacy over use of the TNF antagonists alone. Concurrent therapy with ORENCIA and TNF antagonists is not recommended [see Warnings and Precautions (5.1) ]. There is insufficient experience to assess the safety and efficacy of ORENCIA administered concurrently with other biologic RA therapy, such as anakinra, or other biologic PsA therapy, and JAK inhibitors and therefore such use is not recommended. [see Warnings and Precautions (5.1) ] . 7.2 Blood Glucose Testing Parenteral drug products containing maltose can interfere with the readings of blood glucose monitors that use test strips with glucose dehydrogenase pyrroloquinoline quinone (GDH-PQQ). The GDH-PQQ based glucose monitoring systems may react with the maltose present in ORENCIA for intravenous administration, resulting in falsely elevated blood glucose readings on the day of infusion. When receiving intravenous ORENCIA, patients that require blood glucose monitoring should be advised to consider methods that do not react with maltose, such as those based on glucose dehydrogenase nicotine adenine dinucleotide (GDH-NAD), glucose oxidase, or glucose hexokinase test methods. ORENCIA for subcutaneous administration does not contain maltose; therefore, patients do not need to alter their glucose monitoring.
Every abatacept product we track (1)
Same active ingredient — different manufacturer, form, price and FDA recall record. That last one is what our independent score measures.
Only one: Orencia.
Abatacept and breastfeeding
From LactMed, the US National Library of Medicine’s Drugs and Lactation Database — quoted, not rewritten.
Full LactMed record for abatacept: levels in milk, effects in breastfed infants, and the drugs it would consider insteadAbatacept is a large fusion protein that interferes with T-cell activation. It has a molecular weight of 92,000, so only small amounts are expected to enter breastmilk and absorbed by the infant. Case reports indicate that amounts in milk are very low and do not appear to affect the breastfed infant. Some professional guidelines consider abatacept to be acceptable during breastfeeding. Waiting for at least 2 weeks postpartum to resume therapy may minimize transfer to the infant.
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, record revised May 15, 2025. LactMed states its information is not a substitute for professional judgement.
What people report to the FDA about abatacept
The FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) collects reports from patients and clinicians. It holds 25,377 reports naming abatacept, and the FDA flagged 89% of those reports as serious. The effects reported most often — leaving out reports about overdose, misuse or the condition being treated, which dominate the raw list for common medicines:
- arthralgia2,172 reports
- rheumatoid arthritis1,920 reports
- arthropathy1,708 reports
- fatigue1,573 reports
- pneumonia1,392 reports
- headache1,343 reports
- nasopharyngitis1,334 reports
- fall1,316 reports
Read these as a signal, not a rate. A report does not mean abatacept caused the effect — anyone can file one, and many describe people taking several medicines for several conditions. Crucially there is no denominator: FAERS does not record how many people took the drug, so these counts cannot be turned into “X% of patients” — a bigger number often just means a more widely used or more talked-about drug. Duplicates exist, and publicity drives reporting. For what is actually established, read the FDA label section above.
Source: openFDA drug/event (FAERS), retrieved July 25, 2026.
Related calculators
Frequently asked questions
What is abatacept?
Abatacept is a selective T-cell costimulation modulator. Abatacept is a soluble fusion protein that consists of the extracellular domain of human cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 (CTLA-4) linked to the modified Fc (hinge, CH2, and CH3 domains) portion of human immunoglobulin G1 (IgG1).
Can you take abatacept with other medicines?
It depends on the medicine. We check it against the FDA labels rather than guessing: our interaction checker searches each drug's own label for the other and quotes what it says, naming the section it came from. Run abatacept against whatever else you take — and remember that a label not naming a drug is not the same as that combination being safe.
What forms does abatacept come in?
Across the brands we track, abatacept is currently marketed as injectable and solution, per the FDA's National Drug Code Directory. Each form is dosed differently — follow the label for the exact product you were prescribed.
Is there a generic abatacept?
We do not currently list a generic-labelled abatacept product. That does not always mean none exists — it means none appears under a generic name in the FDA data we track. Ask your pharmacist.
Cite this page
- APA
- pharmaranks. (2026, July 24). Abatacept: uses, dosing, side effects & brands. https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/abatacept
- MLA
- “Abatacept: uses, dosing, side effects & brands.” pharmaranks, 24 July 2026, https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/abatacept.
We summarise public FDA and NIH sources — for a clinical claim, cite the primary source we link to as well.
Sources: FDA openFDA drug label, National Drug Code Directory, and Enforcement (recall) database. This page reproduces public FDA data and is not medical advice. Dosing is set by your prescriber.
Read the full FDA label for abatacept on DailyMed (NIH) ↗.