The arthritis drug tocilizumab can provide effective treatment to both adults and children with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), according to two new studies.

Scientists from the Medical University of Vienna carried out a phase III trial of the drug on 623 adult patients with RA.

A proportion were given tocilizumab every four weeks, while another group received a placebo. All participants also received 10-25 mg of arthritis drug methotrexate and researchers looked for improved RA symptoms as based on ACR20 criteria from the American College of Rheumatology.

The study, published in the Lancet, found an increased number of ACR20 responses in patients who received tocilizumab.

"[This data provides] evidence that inhibition of interleukin-6-mediated proinflammatory effects significantly and rapidly improves the signs and symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis," the researchers wrote.

"Thus tocilizumab could be an effective agent for the treatment of patients with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis."

The second study, from the same issue of the Lancet, was conducted at the Yokohama City University School of Medicine in Japan and concentrated on 56 children aged between two and 19 who had not responded to traditional arthritis medications.

Randomization tests on 43 participants found 80 per cent of those who had received a tocilizumab dose of 8mg/kg every two weeks over a six week period displayed the ACR Pedi 30 response.

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