Anakinra, sold under the brand name Kineret, is a biopharmaceutical medication used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, cryopyrin-associated periodic syndromes, familial Mediterranean fever, and Still's disease. It is a recombinant and slightly modified version of the human interleukin 1 receptor antagonist protein. It is marketed by Swedish Orphan Biovitrum. Anakinra is administered by subcutaneous injection. Medical uses It is used as a second line treatment to manage symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis after treatment with a disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) has failed. It can be used in combination with some DMARDs. It is used to people with a cryopyrin-associated periodic syndrome, including neonatal-onset multisystem inflammatory disease. It is used to treat Schnitzler's syndrome (off label in the US). Its response rate is such that it has been suggested that "Treatment failures should lead to reconsider the diagnosis." Off label, it is used to treat systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (SJIA), gout, calcium pyrophosphate deposition (CPPD), Behçet's disease, ankylosing spondylitis, uveitis, and other auto-inflammatory syndromes. In December 2021, the European Medicines Agency authorized the use of anakinra "to treat COVID-19 in adults with pneumonia requiring supplemental oxygen (low or high flow oxygen) and who are at risk of developing severe respiratory failure, as determined by blood levels of a protein called suPAR (soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor) of at least 6 ng per ml." In November 2022, the United States FDA approved its use under an emergency use authorization "for the treatment of COVID-19 in hospitalized adults with pneumonia requiring supplemental oxygen (low- or high-flow oxygen) who are at risk of progressing to severe respiratory failure and likely to have an elevated plasma soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR)." Safety It was not tested in pregnant women, but appeared to be safe in animal studies. It should not be used in people who have active infections or latent tuberculosis, or who are taking TNF inhibitors. Adverse reactions More than ten percent of people taking Anakinra have injection site reactions, headaches, and have increased cholesterol levels. Recipients have eight percent more patients decrease white blood cells counts, two percent more patients decrease platelets counts, one percent more patients get severe infections[4.5% for patients with asthma compared to 0% placebo patients with asthma]. It is unclear if taking Anakinra increases cancer risk; studies are complicated by the fact that people with rheumatoid arthritis already face higher cancer risk. Chemistry Anakinra differs from the sequence of Interleukin