Medics 'would prescribe tocilizumab if it was approved'

A new report has suggested that the vast majority of rheumatologists would consider prescribing tocilizumab to patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) if and when it is approved for use.

The survey, carried out by Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, found that 89 per cent of rheumatologists were considering prescribing tocilizumab. They said that they thought the drug might benefit around ten per cent of their patients.

In addition, the research showed that 99 per cent of the medical professionals questioned believed that anti-TNF drugs should be the first-line biological therapy for RA.

Dr Cindy Mundy commented: "Most rheumatologists expect the dominance of anti-TNF drugs to continue, and possibly expand, over the next two years."

Currently, tocilizumab is under review by both the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency. In July, the FDA's arthritis advisory committee recommended tocilizumab's approval for rheumatoid arthritis

A spokesman for the Arthritis Research Campaign, whose scientists developed and pioneered anti-TNF therapy for RA, said the drugs had transformed the lives of millions of people with inflammatory arthritis. "More and more drugs are now coming onto the market in the wake of the three anti-TMF therapies, infliximab, etanercept and adalimumab," she added.

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