Weekly Actemra improves health-related quality of life, fatigue in GCA

DESTIN, Fla. — In patients with giant cell arteritis, a regimen of tocilizumab given 162 mg weekly plus a 26-week prednisone taper demonstrated significant improvements in health-related quality of life and fatigue compared with patients treated with 26-week or 52-week prednisone taper alone, according to findings presented at the 2018 Congress of Clinical Rheumatology.

“Here we are demonstrating results from the GiACTA study, evaluating the use of tocilizumab in giant cell arteritis,” Nancy Richter, PhD, senior medical science liaison at Genentech, told Healio Rheumatology. “There are four different arms to the trial, two of which are basically placebo – a 6-month prednisone taper and 1-year prednisone taper – as well as two tocilizumab arms with weekly or every-other-week doses.”