%0 Journal Article
%T New insights and long-term safety of tocilizumab in rheumatoid
arthritis
%A Elena Panova
%A Graeme Jones
%J Archive of "Therapeutic Advances in Musculoskeletal Disease".
%D 2018
%R 10.1177/1759720X18798462
%X Rheumatoid arthritis is a leading musculoskeletal cause of disability in Western society. Therapeutic options have expanded rapidly with the advent of biological agents as treatment options. One of these, tocilizumab, targets the interleukin-6 receptor and has been approved since the late 2000s in many jurisdictions. This approval was based on 6¨C12 month trials. It is now appropriate to look at longer-term studies and what new insights they have provided into this agent. Data are based largely on observational studies with their well-known limitations as well as some further randomized trials and provide a number of important observations regarding both efficacy and safety. In conclusion, the longer-term data suggest tocilizumab efficacy increases over time for both signs and symptoms and radiographic change. It is also corticosteroid sparing. The safety data are consistent with the shorter-term trials and are largely reassuring but some questions still remain over cardiovascular safety and cancer risk
%K cohort
%K database
%K long term
%K rheumatoid
%K tocilizumab
%K trials
%U https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6178374/