Kevzara

My rheumatologist said basically the same thing. I thought he had me confused for someone else when he said I was "too young" and "too healthy" to take prednisone for the rest of my life. I was 65 years old but I felt much older --- over 100. I took prednisone for 30 years already but daily for PMR for only 12 years. I didn't think the remaining years of my life would be very long.

Actemra gave me a new lease on life after I was finally able to taper off prednisone. My chronological age is how I currently feel. I'm 70 but getting to 90 seems feasible but 100 might be pushing it. I feel healthier as evidenced by 10 other medications in addition to Prednisone I have also stopped taking. Time will tell but I don't have the steroid burden or PMR anymore as long as I do a monthly Actemra infusion. The following study was funded by Genentech but other studies suggest the duration of PMR/GCA treated with Prednisone is much longer than 2 years.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7991019/
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"The higher-than-anticipated number of patients with continued disease and exposure to glucocorticoids at 2 years suggests a more chronic nature of GCA and PMR in this real-world study rather than the existing expectation that GCA and PMR often resolve within 2 years of therapy. These results highlight the need to consider a potential long-term disease course in patients with GCA and/or PMR and for the use of efficacious, glucocorticoid-sparing therapies in these patients.
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Now my rheumatologist says it is clear that my overall condition is much better on Actemra. The turnaround happened within a year of getting off Prednisone. I had forgotten what it was like to really feel good again and not needing Prednisone every day.

Reading about your success with Actemra infusions and eliminating prednisone in your life, gives me hope! Just had my second infusion on Wednesday. I started feeling better 2 weeks after the first one. Stepping down to 10 mg. tomorrow.

Actemra has helped me tremendously. It was still a rocky road to finally taper myself completely off Prednisone. Depending on how long you have been on Prednisone ... it might work faster for you.

People say Actemra doesn't help with adrenal insufficiency. I would say it might not help directly but indirectly it does ... without Actemra, I would have never been able to stay on a low enough of a Prednisone dose that would allow my adrenals to recover. I had to stay on 3 mg or less of Prednisone for more than 6 months for my cortisol level to improve. I couldn't get much less than 10 mg without Actemra. Whenever I managed to get to 7 mg ... I flared and had to increase my dose again.

Actemra doesn't suppress my adrenal function so that was a huge benefit. Plus if Actemra doesn't work it can be stopped easily. It is worth a try but no guarantees. Actemra also has some side effects and it is expensive,

Also.my situation is a bit unusual. The Rheumatologist (a geriatric rheumatologist)'s practice is part of a hospital system with a medical school. They have a specialty pharmacy that handles all the Kevzara issues - I have a clinical pharmacist assigned to me; he calls me regularly to check on me, and answer questions about Kevzara. They manage the insurance authorizations, arrange delivery of Kevzara to my house, etc.

My understanding is that the biologic blocks the effects of the disease while being given but is not a treatment or cure in the usual sense of a drug that directly attacks and terminates the disease process. Thus, we're all in an illustration "remission" while we're on it. I've been told to eventually expect occasions when I'll stop taking it so we can get accurate inflammation markers labs and clinically assess. And yes, long term Kevzara is far preferred over Prednisone from a risk benefit calculation.