Actemra

[Sumojo]

I’ve just been reading about Actemra for PMR. Wondering how many of you are taking this and at what dosage of Pred.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Very few on it for PMR as it is not approved for PMR, just GCA. I am because it is an option for my rheumy to wangle here in Italy but not at all in the UK or Australia. In the USA there are a few, depending on their insurance.

[Cmsstu]

I have been taking an Actemra infusion once a month for almost a year. Once starting the infusion i was able to get off prednisone very quickly. I havent had any problems until last month my liver enzymes were high. I am having more blood work tomorrow and hope the liver enzymes are better. I had an upper respiratory infection and my rheumatologist said that infection might have caused the numbers to be high.

[Sumojo in reply to Cmsstu]

That’s really interesting. How great you’re off the pred. At what dose did the doc prescribe Actemra?

[Rugger in reply to Sumojo]

Cmsstu has GCA - hence the Actemra.

[HeaUnlocked]

Because I had GCA the initial dose of prednisone was 60m, which was gradually tapered to 40m. Went on actemra while taking 40m prednisone. Once on actemra it took me 14 weeks to taper off prednisone entirely (from 40m to 0)