The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 275 No 7379 p716
10 December 2005

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Tocilizumab more effective than conventional DMARDs in RA

Joint erosion and joint space narrowing in rheumatoid arthritis is more effectively prevented by tocilizumab (Actemra; Chugai/ Roche) than by conventional disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), results presented at an American College of Rheumatology meeting held in San Diego, California, last month suggest.

Researchers randomly allocated 302 patients who had active early rheumatoid arthritis to receive either tocilizumab, a humanised anti-human interleukin-6 receptor monoclonal antibody, or conventional DMARDs for 52 weeks. Tocilizumab was superior to DMARDs in preventing both erosion and joint space narrowing (P<0.001 and P=0.018, respectively).

In addition, more patients treated with tocilizumab than with DMARDs had significant symptom reduction. The percentages of patients who achieved a 20, 50 or 70 per cent reduction in their RA symptoms, as assessed by American College of Rheumatology criteria, were 89 per cent, 70 per cent and 47 per cent in the tocilizumab group and 35 per cent, 14 per cent and 6 per cent in the DMARDs group, respectively (all P<0.001).