What special precautions should I follow?

Before using alefacept,

• tell your doctor and pharmacist if you are allergic to alefacept or any other medications.
• tell your doctor and pharmacist what prescription and nonprescription medications, vitamins, nutritional supplements, and herbal products you are taking or plan to take. Be sure to mention medications that suppress the immune system such as azathioprine (Imuran); cancer chemotherapy; cyclosporine (Neoral, Sandimmune); methotrexate (Rheumatrex); oral steroids such as dexamethasone (Decadron, Dexone), methylprednisolone (Medrol), and prednisone (Deltasone);sirolimus (Rapamune); and tacrolimus (Prograf). Your doctor may need to change the doses of your medications or monitor you carefully for side effects.
• tell your doctor if you or any of your close relatives have or have ever had cancer and if you have or have ever had any disease that affects your immune system such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), or severe combined immunodeficiency syndrome (SCID); or kidney or liver disease. Also tell your doctor if you have any type of infection, including infections that come and go (such as cold sores), and chronic infections that do not go away such as tuberculosis (TB), varicella (chickenpox or shingles), or hepatitis, or if you frequently get any type of infection such as urinary tract or bladder infections.
• tell your doctor if your psoriasis is being treated with phototherapy (a treatment for psoriasis that involves exposing the skin to ultraviolet light).
• tell your doctor if you are pregnant, plan to become pregnant, or are breast-feeding. If you become pregnant while using alefacept or within 8 weeks of stopping alefacept, call your doctor.
• if you are having surgery, including dental surgery, tell the doctor or dentist that you are using alefacept.
• do not have any vaccinations (shots to prevent diseases) without talking to your doctor.
• you should know that alefacept may decrease your ability to fight infection and increase the risk that you will develop a serious infection. Stay away from people who are sick and wash your hands often while you are using this medication.

What special dietary instructions should I follow?

Unless your doctor tells you otherwise, continue your normal diet.

What should I do if I forget a dose?

If you miss an appointment to receive an alefacept injection, call your doctor as soon as possible.