Generic name: sulfasalazine
Brand names: Azulfidine, Azulfidine EN-tabs
Dosage form: oral tablet, oral delayed-release tablet
Drug classes:5-aminosalicylates, Antirheumatics
What is sulfasalazine?
Sulfasalazine is a disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug (DMARD) used to treat and manage autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis and an inflammatory bowel disease called ulcerative colitis. It is a slow-acting DMARD, taking time to build up and start working.
Sulfasalazine helps to reduce pain and swelling and lowers inflammation in your body. It limits the damage that rheumatoid arthritis causes to your joints, helping to prevent disease progression.
Sulfasalazine consists of the anti-inflammatory agent 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA, mesalamine or mesalazine) and the antibiotic sulfapyridine, which are linked by a bond.
It's not fully understood how sulfasalazine works. Sulfasalazine is too big to be absorbed by your small intestine, but bacteria in your colon can break the bond between 5-ASA and sulfapyridine, which frees 5-ASA to work locally in your colon to help in ulcerative colitis. Sulfasalazine and its metabolites - the other drugs that it is broken down into - are also thought to have a range of immunomodulatory effects. They block or inhibit certain processes in your body, which helps to reduce the activity of your immune system.
Sulfasalazine has been used since the 1950s. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a standard tablet (Azulfidine) and an enteric-coated, delayed-release tablet (Azulfidine EN-tabs) of sulfazalazine. Generic versions of these tablets are also available.
The delay-release, enteric-coated tablets are recommended for people who experience gastrointestinal side effects such as nausea and vomiting.
What is sulfasalazine used for?
Sulfasalazine is a prescription medication that is available...
