About azathioprine

Azathioprine is a type of medicine called an immunosuppressant. Immunosuppressants help to calm or control your body's immune system.

This medicine helps treat inflammatory conditions such as:

• rheumatoid arthritis
• Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis
• severe inflammation of the liver, skin or arteries
• some blood disorders

If you've had a transplant, taking azathioprine can prevent your body from rejecting your new organ.

Azathioprine is sometimes also used to treat conditions that affect the skin, such as lupus or severe atopic eczema.

Azathioprine is available on prescription only. You'll usually be prescribed this medicine by a specialist doctor.

It comes as tablets. It's also available as an injection, but this is usually only given in hospital.