In DMARD-naive patients with newly diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and a 28-joint disease activity score ≥2.6, immediate initiation of tocilizumab (with or without methotrexate) seems to be more effective than standard care. In a 2-year study, sustained remission was achieved by 86% (91 of 106) of patients receiving tocilizumab plus methotrexate and 84% (86 of 103) of patients receiving tocilizumab only, versus 44% (48 of 108) of patients initially given methotrexate monotherapy according to international guidelines.
References
Bijlsma, J. W. J. et al. Early rheumatoid arthritis treated with tocilizumab, methotrexate, or their combination (U-Act-Early): a multicentre, randomised, double-blind, double-dummy, strategy trial. Lancet http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(16)30363-4 (2016)
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Barranco, C. U-Act-Early finds tocilizumab favours RA remission. Nat Rev Rheumatol 12, 436 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrrheum.2016.104
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrrheum.2016.104
