Landmark International Trial Demonstrates New Treatment Option for Relapsing PMR

A major international clinical trial published in The New England Journal of Medicine has shown that secukinumab can significantly improve outcomes for people with relapsing polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR). The Phase 3 REPLENISH trial found that patients receiving secukinumab alongside a structured steroid taper were approximately twice as likely to achieve sustained remission after one year compared with patients receiving standard treatment alone.

We were proud to have recruited patients to this important study, and our patients’ participation helped contribute to these valuable results. Their involvement played a meaningful role in advancing understanding of PMR and in helping to identify a potential new treatment option for people living with this condition.

Importantly, patients treated with secukinumab required substantially lower cumulative doses of glucocorticoids (prednisolone), reducing exposure to the long-term side effects that can affect many people living with PMR, including diabetes, osteoporosis, weight gain and cardiovascular complications.

PMR has historically had very few targeted treatment options despite being one of the most common inflammatory rheumatic diseases affecting older adults. These findings represent one of the most significant therapeutic advances in PMR in recent years and provide further evidence that steroid-sparing treatments may improve both disease control and quality of life for patients.