Arthritis Clinical Trials

This open-label, single-arm study will assess the use of glucocorticoids (GC) in daily clinical practice and will evaluate the dose reduction of glucocorticoids once low disease activity is achieved in patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated with GC and background RoActemra/Actemra (tocilizumab) 8mg/kg intravenously every 4 weeks. In the non-interventional phase, the use of GC in daily clinical Belgian practice will be evaluated and described. This period of maximum 6 months will allow those patients to obtain the inclusion criteria for the secondary interventional phase. In the interventional phase, a systematic GC dose reduction schedule will be evaluated in patients having achieved low disease activity while receiving the same background therapy with RoActemra/Actemra 8 mg/kg. Methylprednisolone will be given from a starting dose of >/= 1 mg to </=20 mg orally daily and will be tapered down. The anticipated study duration is up to 13 months.