Tocilizumab is a recombinant humanized monoclonal antibody IL-6 receptor inhibitor used to treat inflammatory and autoimmune conditions. It was first described in the literature in 2003 when Chugai, a subsidiary of Roche began developing IL-6 inhibiting monoclonal antibodies. Tocilizumab was granted FDA approval on 8 January 2010 to treat a number of inflammatory and autoimmune disorders, such as different types of arthritis and cytokine release syndrome. It was later approved by Health Canada on 30 April 2010. After being investigated to treat severely ill patients with COVID-19, tocilizumab was approved by the European Commission in December 2021 to treat COVID-19 in adults receiving systemic corticosteroids and supplemental oxygen or mechanical ventilation. Subsequently, it was granted approval by Health Canada and the FDA in October and December 2022, respectively. Tocilizumab-bavi, a biosimilar drug, was approved by the FDA in September 2023.
Tocilizumab is indicated to treat moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis, giant cell arteritis, systemic sclerosis-associated interstitial lung disease, polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis, systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis, and cytokine release syndrome.
Tocilizumab is also used to treat coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in adults who are receiving systemic corticosteroids and require supplemental oxygen, mechanical ventilation, or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).
The Angeles Clinic, Los Angeles, California, United States
Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
NYU Langone Health, New York, New York, United States
Children's Hospital Colorado, Aurora, Colorado, United States
Universitätsspital Basel; Rheumatologie, Basel, Switzerland
Inselspital Bern; Rheumatologie; Klinische Immunologie und Allergologie, Bern, Switzerland
Reade Rheumatology Research Institute, Amsterdam, Netherlands
START Madrid. Centro Integral Oncologico Clara Campal; CIOCC, Madrid, Spain
Hospital Clinico Universitario de Valencia, Valencia, Spain
National Taiwan University Hospital, Yun-Lin Branch, Huwei Township, Taiwan
Medical University of Vienna/Vienna General Hospital, Vienna, Austria
Centre Leon Berard; Departement Oncologie Medicale, Lyon, France
Stanford Comprehensive Cancer Center, Stanford, California, United States
START Madrid-FJD, Hospital Fundacion Jimenez Diaz, Madrid, Spain
University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States
Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University, Saint Louis, Missouri, United States
Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Department of Rheumatology, Tel Aviv Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel
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