MEthotrexate Versus TOcilizumab for Treatment of GIant Cell Arteritis: a Multicenter, Randomized, Controlled Trial

Giant-cell arteritis (GCA) is the most frequent vasculitis after 50 years. It is characterized by a granulomatous inflammation of the wall of large vessels, involving especially the aorta and extra-cranial branches of the external carotid, with vascular remodelling leading to ischemic manifestations such as temporal headaches, jaw claudication, scalp tenderness and visual loss. Most patients with GCA also present signs of systemic inflammation, including weight loss, fatigue and fever, together with an increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-reactive protein (CRP) level. Glucocorticoids (GC) are the cornerstone of the treatment of GCA. They are very effective and are usually given for 18-24 months to avoid relapses. Therefore, most patients develop GC-related complications that cause morbidity and disability. GC sparing strategies are thus required to improve the treatment of GCA. * A 12-month treatment with tocilizumab (TCZ) has recently been shown to be effective in inducing and maintaining remission of GCA, with a dramatic GC-sparing effect. However, TCZ is an expensive drug; TCZ suppresses CRP synthesis and ESR elevation so that it is difficult to monitor patients; and importantly around 40% of patients relapse within 6 months after TCZ discontinuation, whether prescribed for 12 months or 4 months. * In association with 6 months of prednisone, 10 mg/week of methotrexate (MTX) for 24 months lowers the risk of relapse at 24 months from 84% to 45%. Therefore, the hypothesis is that 12 months of MTX treatment (0.3 mg/Kg/week, without exceeding 20 mg/week) is not inferior to 12 months of TCZ (162 mg SC/week) in term of prevention of relapse at 18 months. The MTX strategy might be more cost effective than TCZ. In the present study, it is proposed to compare MTX versus TCZ in a multicenter randomized controlled trial. Moreover, the economic consequences associated with the use of MTX rather than TCZ will be also assess.

NCT Number	NCT03892785
Lead Sponsor	Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Dijon
Conditions	Giant Cell Arteritis
Enrollment	230 participants
Start Date	2020-01-27
Primary Completion	2027-01 (estimated)
Study Completion	2027-01 (estimated)
Updated on ClinicalTrials.gov	2026-04-24