I don’t have PMR; I’m actually a caregiver for my father who has PMR, so not sure if my experience is transferable.

But I’m on Humira; it’s a TNF blocker (a type of cytokine that causes inflammation). Before, I took Enbrel, also a TNF blocker. I have seronegative spondyloarthropathy (it affects the insertion points where tendon goes into bone, i.e. where the Achilles inserts into the base of the heel).

We had to do the usual trial and error approach. If pharmacogenomics were to advance enough, how great would it be to just be able to know which medications are must likely to work without having to go through potentially months to see which class and type of medications would work best?

Actemra (tocilizumab) got me off prednisone. There was a waiver granted because of my "inability" to taper off prednisone which was being used to treat PMR. Actemra was FDA approved for GCA at the time but not FDA approved for PMR. That was why a waiver was granted.

My rheumatologist thought Actemra "should work" for PMR but he didn't know if it would work or not. There were no promises made that it would work. I was just asked if I was "willing to try Actemra."

This happened 4 yours ago when IL-6 inhibitors were "looking promising" for PMR/GCA. I still do a monthly infusing of Actemra and it still works for me.

Humira ( TNF inhibitor) was also tried but it didn't work as well as Actemra did.