According to the findings of a recent study published in "Biomedicines", Tocilizumab therapy given subcutaneously might be beneficial for the management of fibromyalgia. Investigators aimed to assess Tocilizumab as a potential management option for refractory fibromyalgia. This case series involved fibromyalgia subjects who received Tocilizumab subcutaneously.

The evaluation of fibromyalgia symptoms was carried out using the fibromyalgianess scale based on the 2016 criteria of the American College of Rheumatology, and the revised Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQR), which incorporated level of pain. A comparison of fibromyalgia symptoms was conducted using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Furthermore, neutrophils from primary matched healthy controls and fibromyalgia subjects were isolated for transcriptome analysis.

Six patients were included in the presentation, with two being primary fibromyalgia patients and four being secondary fibromyalgia patients. All volunteers had received subcutaneous Tocilizumab for a minimum of 12 weeks due to severe symptoms that were unresponsive to standard treatments. Throughout the study, the FIQR and fibromyalgianess scale scores of the patients showed a decrease at both 4 and 12 weeks.

At the 4-week mark, four out of the six patients (67%) experienced a pain reduction of at least 30%, while at 12 weeks, three out of the six patients (50%) achieved the same level of pain reduction. Furthermore, a comparison of primary fibromyalgia subjects with controls and an assessment of gene expression after Tocilizumab treatment revealed possible differentially expressed genes.

The observed benefits of Tocilizumab therapy in fibromyalgia individuals may suggest a potential positive effect. Nevertheless, to establish its efficacy definitively, conducting a randomized controlled trial is fundamental.