Subcutaneous tocilizumab similar to IV tocilizumab in systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis

Subcutaneous-tocilizumab (SC-TCZ) and intravenous-tocilizumab (IV-TCZ) had similar risk/benefit profiles in patients with systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA) and polyarticular JIA (pJIA), according to a study.

In 2 1b trials, 51 patients with sJIA and 52 patients with pJIA were administered SC-TCZ. Data from phase 3 trials with IV-TCZ in sJIA and pJIA were used for comparison.

A total of 49 (96%) of sJIA patients and 52 (100%) pJIA patients achieved the steady-state minimum TCZ concentration (>5th percentile) achieved with IV-TCZ.

Improvements in Juvenile Arthritis Disease Activity Score-71 were comparable between the treatments.

Clinical remission on treatment was achieved in 53% of sJIA patients and 31% of pJIA patients by week 52.

Injection site reactions and infections were reported in 41.2% and 78.4% of sJIA patients and 28.8% and 69.2% of pJIA patients, respectively.

Two patients in the sJIA group died, with deaths were considered related to TCZ.

Reference
Ruperto N, Brunner HI, Ramanan AV, et al. Subcutaneous dosing regimens of tocilizumab in children with systemic or polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis, Rheumatol. 2021; keab047, https://doi.org/10.1093/rheumatology/keab047