Tocilizumab may repair bone erosion in RA: study
IL-6R inhibitors may have an advantage over TNF-alpha inhibitors, say researchers
Treatment with tocilizumab may aid repair of bone erosions in people with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a small study suggests.
German researchers compared the effects on bone of either on-label doses of tocilizumab monotherapy or adalimumab plus methotrexate 40mg/day every second week.
All 66 patients had RA with bone erosions and had failed to respond to at least three months of methotrexate monotherapy at 20mg/week. Mean disease duration was 9.5 months.
The 33 patients receiving tocilizumab more than halved the volume of their bone erosions at the second metacarpophalangeal joint of the dominant hand, measured by high-resolution quantitative CT, reducing from a mean of 1.9mm3 at baseline to 0.8mm3 after a year on treatment.
