From HealthDay: Two studies in the newest issue of The Lancet (a prestigious British medical journal) found that "appears to be effective in relieving the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis in both adults and children."
Read the full news article here.
According to the article: "The researchers found that after 24 weeks, 59 percent of the patients taking the highest dose of tocilizumab (along with methotrexate) had at least a 20 percent improvement in symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, compared with 26 percent of the patients receiving a combination of methotrexate and placebo."
But it's not all good news.
The article also noted that the "most common serious side effects were severe infections among six patients receiving the highest dose of tocilizumab, according to the report."
Tocilizumab raises cholesterol in the patients who took it. In children, side effects included gastrointestinal bleeding, bronchitis, and gastroenteritis.
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