I was diagnosed with PMR about 17 years ago. I took prednisone for 13 out of those 17 years. My rheumatologist wanted me to try a biologic similar to Kevzara. My rheumatologist didn't want me to take prednisone for the rest of my life and described the biologic as my "best chance" of ever getting off prednisone.

The biologic came with "no guarantee" that it would work. My rheumatologist just felt it was "worth a try" and I wouldn't know if it would work unless I tried it.

The biologic offered to me was called Actemra. It shares the same classification as Kevzara. Both medications are IL-6 receptor blockers, IL-6 is the pro-inflammation cytokine implicated in both PMR and GCA. When IL-6 levels are too high we have too much of the inflammation that results in PMR and/or GCA.

Both Actemra and Kevzara are large molecules that attach to IL-6 receptor sites in cells instead of the IL-6 cytokine. Somehow that allows inflammation to decrease and we feel less pain. Nobody knows precisely how these medications work. Both Actemra and Kevzara should work in the same way. They don't work immediately like prednisone does but after 3 months or so you should start to feel the difference.

Actema is FDA approved for GCA.

Kezvara was recently FDA approved for PMR

Both biologics were approved for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis about 10 years ago but have since been approved to treat other types of autoimmune conditions.

Actemra worked for me. I was off prednisone a year after it was started. Technically, I still have PMR without the pain that PMR caused and the side effects that prednisone caused.

My rheumatologist thinks I'm better off being on Actemra instead of prednisone. I agree with my rheumatologist because I feel much better now than I ever did when I took prednisone for years and years.

I don't have any personal experience with Kevzara but it should work the same way that Actemra works.
https://www.actemra.com/gca/considerations/how-it-works.html#:~:text=When%20your%20body%20produces%20too,to%20attack%20your%20healthy%20cells.
I personally haven't had any serious side effects from Actemra. There are potential side effects. I think the side effect profile for both Kevzara and Actemra are similar.

My rheumatologist would say the risk of side effects from Actemra is less than the side effects from long term prednisone use. However, he also said that if I only needed a relatively small dose of prednisone for a relatively short period of time then prednisone might be better.