Trial reportRheumatology (Oxford, England)2022
New-onset versus relapsing giant cell arteritis treated with tocilizumab: 3-year results from a randomized controlled trial and extension.
Trial report in Rheumatology (Oxford, England), 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT01791153 (A Phase III, Multicenter, Randomized, Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Study to Assess the Efficacy and Safety of Tocilizumab in Subjects With Giant Cell Arteritis), which is not on this map. Cited by 15 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
A Phase III, Multicenter, Randomized, Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Study to Assess the Efficacy and Safety of Tocilizumab in Subjects With Giant Cell Arteritis
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 51 citations in OpenAlex.
- Biologic therapies for the treatment of large vessel vasculitis: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2025Pooled it
- Evidence on treat to target strategies in polymyalgia rheumatica and giant cell arteritis: a systematic literature review.Rheumatology (Oxford, England) · 2024Pooled it
- Pooled it
- A systematic literature review to inform the 2025 EULAR recommendations for the management of polymyalgia rheumatica and primary large vessel vasculitis: management of disease including relapse and complications.EULAR rheumatology open · 2026Review
- Risk factors of serious infections in patients with large-vessel vasculitis after the approval of tocilizumab in 2017: a retrospective nested case-control study using the Japanese health insurance database.Arthritis research & therapy · 2026Observational
- Giant Aortic Aneurysm in Refractory Behçet's Disease Shrank with Tocilizumab Treatment: A Case Report.ACR open rheumatology · 2025Article
- Efficacy and Safety of Biological Agents in Giant Cell Arteritis: An Updated Meta-Analysis.Avicenna journal of medicine · 2025Review
- Faster steroid-free remission with tocilizumab compared to methotrexate in giant cell arteritis: a real-life experience in two reference centres.Internal and emergency medicine · 2024Article
- Advances and challenges in management of large vessel vasculitis.Rheumatology and immunology research · 2023Article
- Relapse Risk and Safety of Long-Term Tocilizumab Use Among Patients With Giant Cell Arteritis: A Single-Enterprise Cohort Study.The Journal of rheumatology · 2023Article
- Giant cell arteritis: reviewing the advancing diagnostics and management.Eye (London, England) · 2023Review
- Effectiveness of a two-year tapered course of tocilizumab in patients with giant cell arteritis: A single-centre prospective study.Seminars in arthritis and rheumatism · 2023Article
- Article
- Treatment of Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA).Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Review
- Pathogenesis of giant cell arteritis with focus on cellular populations.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors at 9 institutions in 6 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTocilizumab plus prednisone induces sustained glucocorticoid-free remission in patients with GCA. However, its long-term benefits in new-onset vs relapsing disease are uncertain, and the value of weekly vs every-other-week dosing has not been evaluated.
methodsIn Giant-Cell Arteritis Actemra (GiACTA) part 1, patients with new-onset or relapsing GCA received blinded tocilizumab weekly (TCZ QW), tocilizumab every-other-week (TCZ Q2W) or placebo for 52 weeks, with a prednisone taper. In part 2 (open-label), patients were treated at investigator discretion for 104 weeks. In this analysis, patients were evaluated according to their original treatment assignments, and outcomes beyond 52 weeks were assessed. Outcomes of interest included time to first flare and cumulative glucocorticoid exposure over 3 years according to baseline disease status.
resultsPart 1 enrolled 250 patients; 215 entered part 2. At baseline, 48% had new-onset disease and 52% had relapsing disease. In patients with new-onset and relapsing disease, the median time to first flare in the TCZ QW group was 577 and 575 days, respectively, vs 479 and 428 days with TCZ Q2W and 179 and 224 days with placebo; the median cumulative glucocorticoid dose was 3068 mg and 2191 mg with TCZ QW, 4080 mg and 2353 mg with TCZ Q2W, and 4639 mg and 6178 mg with placebo.
conclusionTCZ QW delayed the time to flare and reduced the cumulative glucocorticoid dose in patients with relapsing GCA and new-onset GCA. These data support initiating TCZ QW as part of first-line therapy in all patients with active GCA.
trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov, https://clinicaltrials.gov, NCT01791153.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.