Helping rheumatoid arthritis patients live healthy, normal lives

MANILA, Philippines - Anna was always very active. When she was younger, she was heavily into kickboxing, scuba diving, and several other high-impact sports and exercises. She was career-driven as well.

Then, at 27, she began to feel pain in her hands and fingers and it spread to her wrists and elbows. Her physician prescribed an anti-inflammatory medicine.

She noticed, however, that the moment she stopped taking the medicine, the pain would flare up again. She began to worry and thought it best to see a specialist.

Anna was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). She could not believe it. She was prescribed with prednisone (steroid medication) and eventually methotrexate.

“I felt like I could not ask my doctors about my condition,” she said. “They would tell me what medications I needed but they would not explain anything to me like what was happening to my body, how the medicines were working, and what our long-term plan was. It was scary because I didn’t really know what to expect.”

She went to see Dr. Rosario Marie Sarmiento, a rheumatologist at the Asian Hospital and Medical Center. “Anna’s rheumatoid arthritis had progressed already when I first saw her,” Sarmiento said.

“Her hand had already ankylosed and her joints were very stiff. I wanted to keep her treatment as aggressive as possible to stop further and faster progression. But I did not want to keep her on the steroids for too long,” she added.

When the medications were working well for Anna, she did not see Sarmiento for some time. As with the prednisone, the methotrexate Anna was taking began showing visible side effects. It was when she noticed that she was losing her hair that she began to panic.

“Hair loss is usually one of the side effects of methotrexate that women, in particular, really have a hard time dealing with,” Sarmiento said. “It’s understandable. So I decided to try her on a new form of treatment, biologics, to see if she could benefit from it.”

Anna began her biologics treatment in 2011. Sarmiento began her on the humanized biologic drug tocilizumab, an intravenous therapy developed by pharmaceutical company Roche that specifically targets unique cellular protein responsible for the inflammation and damage of joints in RA.

Anna quickly responded to tocilizumab, and she completed her six-month introduction to the drug with ease. Her RA was under control and she was living life normally without any side effects.

In fact, the treatment with tocilizumab was successful that Sarmiento was able to take her off from all her other medications, including steroids and painkillers. 

With the treatment plan in place and the medication continuing to work to prevent further RA progression, Anna is back to living her life. This includes focusing on her career again, enjoying time with her husband, and doing low-impact workouts and sports like scuba diving, which allow her to continue to be active without too much strain on her body.

“Tocilizumab has been effective for Anna and we plan to continue her treatment consistently. Since RA cannot be cured, the goal is really to control disease progression, save joints, and prevent as much pain as possible so patients can have better quality of life. The right medication coupled with physical therapy as needed, truly helps RA patients achieve their treatment goals and live normal, happy, and healthy lives,” Sarmiento said.

Tocilizumab is a prescription drug and should only be taken in accordance with the advice of a physician.

Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is a leader in research-focused health care with combined strengths in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics.

Roche is the world’s largest biotech company with truly differentiated medicines in oncology, virology, inflammation, metabolism, and CNS. It is also the world leader in vitro diagnostic, tissue based cancer diagnostic and a pioneer in diabetes management.