What are Azathioprine and 6-MP?
Azathioprine (Imuran) 6-Mercaptopurine (6-MP, Purinethol ) : Azathioprine is a drug that was originally used to prevent rejection in organ transplant patients. 6-MP is one of the metabolites of Azathioprine; that means that Azathioprine is converted into 6-MP in the body. Both drugs have shown some degree of efficacy when used in combination with prednisone. Because they facilitate the use of lower steroid doses they are frequently called “steroid sparing” drugs. Most people can tolerate these drugs without difficulty thus helping avoid long term high dose steroids and the predictable associated side effects. At this time it is the consensus of experts in the management of IBD that it is clearly preferable to treat a patient with long term Azathioprine or 6-MP rather than with continued or even intermittent high dose steroids. Despite impressive data from clinical trials supporting the use of 6-MP and azathioprine in both CD and UC many patients are still treated with prednisone for lo
