Effectiveness Of Tocilizumab In Monotherapy In Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis In Clinical Practice

Background There are few data about Tocilizumab (TCZ) in monotherapy effectiveness in clinical practice conditions Objectives To analyze the effectiveness TCZ monotherapy at medium/long term in clinical practice Methods Observational, retrospective, multicenter, 2-year study of RA patients on TCZ monotherapy.We recorded: demographic and clinical data (duration of RA, RF and CCP antibodies, previous treatments and reason for its discontinuation); At baseline and at 3, 6, 9, 12, 18 and 24 months:RA activity (DAS-28 ESR index, TJC, SJC, ESR, CRP and % of patients in Remission or Low Disease Activity (LDA). Adverse effects were also recorded Results 123 patients were included, with a mean age of 57.7±12.5 years and 85.4% females. Mean disease duration of 14.4±12.0 y; 67.5% and 5993% were RF and anti-CCP positive. 98.4% had previously received conventional DMARD (2 DMARDs: 30.9% and ≥3 DMARDs: 38.2%), reasons for DMARD discontinuation were inefficacy (26%), adverse events (58.5), patient decision (8.9%) and other reasons (4.1%). 13% had not received prior biological DMARDs; 34.1% had received 1; 20.3% 2; 16.3% 3; 8.9% 4 and 6.5% ≥5) A relationship between Remission/LDA and disease duration and reason for discontinuation of prior conventional DMARD was not found. An association among the number of previous biological treatments and a low disease activity at 6 m (p Conclusions In our experience, TCZ monotherapy is effective at medium/long term regardless of the duration of the disease and previous treatments, maintaining a high retention rate Disclosure of Interest None declared