There are many treatments available for people with psoriatic arthritis. You and your doctor can determine whether oral or injectable is the best option for you.

If you’re living with psoriatic arthritis (PsA), you’ve got quite a number of treatment options. Finding the best one for you and your symptoms may take some trial and error.

You can help relieve PsA symptoms by working with your healthcare team and learning more about the different types of treatments.

Biologics are drugs made from living organisms, such as human, animal, or microorganism cells and tissues. A healthcare professional usually gives a biologic drug through a needle, either by injection or infusion.

Here are the currently available injectable biologic medications for PsA:

Biosimilars are medications that have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)Trusted Source as a lower cost option to some existing biological treatments.

They’re called biosimilar because they’re so closely related, but not an exact match, to another biologic medication already on the market.

Biosimilars available for PsA include:

  • Erelzi biosimilar to Enbrel
  • Amjevita biosimilar to Humira
  • Cyltezo biosimilar to Humira
  • Inflectra biosimilar to Remicade
  • Renflexis biosimilar to Remicade

The main benefit of biologics is that they can stop inflammation at the cellular level. At the same time, biologics are known to weaken the immune system, which can leave you prone to other diseases.

Oral medications include nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), corticosteroids, or disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), which you can take by mouth. There are other NSAIDs that you can apply topically.

Common NSAIDs include:

The main benefits of NSAIDs are that many are available over the counter.

But they aren’t without side effects. In some cases, NSAIDs can cause stomach irritation and bleeding. And they may also raise your risk of a heart attack or stroke.

DMARDs include:

Biologics are a subset or type of DMARD, so they also work to suppress or reduce inflammation.

Corticosteroids include prednisone (Rayos). Also simply known as steroids, these prescription drugs work to reduce inflammation. Again, they are also known to weaken the immune system.

There are benefits and potential side effects of injectable and oral medications. People can experience PsA symptoms differently, so you may need to try a few treatments before you find the one that’s right for you.

Your doctor can make recommendations based on the severity of your symptoms. They may even suggest combining medication types.