Actemra
An intravenous or injectable biological therapy used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and cytokine release syndrome.
Where Tocilizumab is approved
All regulators →Of the three regulators tracked here, the first to approve Tocilizumab was the EU, on 16 Jan 2009. It is approved in 3 of the 3 regulators tracked here.
- 5 FDA-approved biosimilars, 2 interchangeable: Avtozma, Avtozma, Tofidence, Tyenne and others
- 3 EU safety letters (DHPC), latest: medication error;quality defect for Avtozma, 3 Apr 2026
From the regulators' own registers: FDA Drugs@FDA, the EMA medicines list and Health Canada's Notice of Compliance database. Dates are the first listed approval of a product containing only this substance; combination products and nationally authorised EU medicines are not counted.
What health systems spend on Tocilizumab
All medicines →From NHSBSA Prescription Cost Analysis (Open Government Licence v3.0) and CMS State Drug Utilization Data. Both are gross amounts: neither system publishes its discounts or rebates per drug. Products combining several substances are not counted here.
How Tocilizumab works
All drug targets →- Interleukin-6 receptor alpha subunit inhibitor InhibitorTarget: IL6R interleukin 6 receptor✓ In ChEMBL and the Guide to Pharmacology
- COVID-19Phase 3
- COVID-19–associated multisystem inflammatory syndrome in childrenPhase 3
- Graves ophthalmopathyPhase 3
- Orthomyxoviridae infectious diseasePhase 3
- SeizurePhase 3
- Takayasu arteritisPhase 3
- Acute chest syndromePhase 3
- Acute respiratory distress syndromePhase 3
- Ankylosing spondylitisPhase 3
- Breast cancerPhase 3
Mechanisms and diseases from ChEMBL via the Open Targets Platform (release 26.09), ChEMBL record CHEMBL1237022, CC BY-SA 3.0. Targets checked against the IUPHAR/BPS Guide to PHARMACOLOGY (2026.3), ligand 6881, CC BY-SA 4.0. Trial phases are not approvals: approved uses are shown from the regulators' own records where we hold them.
NICE appraisals of Tocilizumab
All NICE appraisals →NICE, which decides whether the NHS in England should fund new medicines, has published 6 technology appraisals of Tocilizumab. 5 are current, and 5 of these recommend it for at least some patients. 1 older appraisal was replaced or withdrawn.
| Appraisal | NICE recommendation | Published | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nirmatrelvir plus ritonavir and tocilizumab for treating COVID-19 NICE TA878 | Optimised Recommended Not recommended | 29 Mar 2023 Updated 26 Feb 2026 | Current |
| Adalimumab, etanercept, infliximab, certolizumab pegol, golimumab, tocilizumab and abatacept for rheumatoid arthritis not previously treated with DMARDs or after conventional DMARDs only have failed NICE TA375 | Optimised | 26 Jan 2016 | Current |
| Abatacept, adalimumab, etanercept and tocilizumab for treating juvenile idiopathic arthritis NICE TA373 | Recommended | 16 Dec 2015 | Current |
| Tocilizumab for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis NICE TA247 | Recommended | 22 Feb 2012 | Current |
| Tocilizumab for the treatment of systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis NICE TA238 | Recommended Not recommended | 14 Dec 2011 | Current |
NICE decisions apply to the NHS in England. In Ireland the HSE decides on reimbursement, advised by the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics. Titles, categories and dates link to the guidance on nice.org.uk. © NICE 2026 technology appraisal guidance. Available from www.nice.org.uk/guidance. All rights reserved. Subject to Notice of rights. NICE guidance is prepared for the National Health Service in England. All NICE guidance is subject to regular review and may be updated or withdrawn. NICE accepts no responsibility for the use of its content in this product/publication.
Patient leaflets for Tocilizumab
The package leaflet is the official guide for patients that comes with every medicine. These links go to the regulators that publish it.
- IEIreland: 13 products on the HPRA listEach product record links to the HPRA, which publishes the leaflet and SmPC.
- EUEuropean Union: RoActemra, Avtozma (biosimilar), Tocilizumab STADA (previously Tofidence) (biosimilar), Tuyory (biosimilar), Tyenne (biosimilar)EMA product information: package leaflet and summary of product characteristics in every EU language.
- UKUnited Kingdom: Search MHRA ProductsPatient information leaflets and SmPCs for UK-licensed products.
- USUnited States: Search DailyMedFDA-approved labels, including patient and medication guides.
Leaflets differ between brands and countries; always read the one that comes with your own medicine. This is regulatory information, not medical advice.
Reference identifiers for Tocilizumab
- ATC code
- L04AC07
- ChEMBL
- CHEMBL1237022
- DrugBank
- DB06273
- CAS number
- 375823-41-9
- FDA UNII
- I031V2H011
- Wikidata
- Q425154
- Wikipedia
- Tocilizumab
Codes that identify this medicine in other databases, from Wikidata (CC0), matched by its ChEMBL ID. The ATC code is the WHO classification of what the medicine is used for.
What Actemra is used for
ACTEMRA ® (tocilizumab) is an interleukin-6 (IL-6) receptor antagonist indicated for treatment of: Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) ( 1.1 ) Adult patients with moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis who have had an inadequate response to one or more Disease-Modifying Anti-Rheumatic Drugs (DMARDs). Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA) ( 1.2 ) Adult patients with giant cell arteritis. Systemic Sclerosis-Associated Interstitial Lung Disease (SSc-ILD) ( 1.3 ) Slowing the rate of decline in pulmonary function in adult patients with systemic sclerosis-associated interstitial lung disease (SSc-ILD) Polyarticular Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (PJIA) ( 1.4 ) Patients 2 years of age and older with active polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Systemic Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (SJIA) ( 1.5 ) Patients 2 years of age and older with active systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Cytokine Releas…
How it works
12.1 Mechanism of Action Tocilizumab binds to both soluble and membrane-bound IL-6 receptors (sIL-6R and mIL-6R), and has been shown to inhibit IL-6-mediated signaling through these receptors. IL-6 is a pleiotropic pro-inflammatory cytokine produced by a variety of cell types including T- and B-cells, lymphocytes, monocytes and fibroblasts. IL-6 has been shown to be involved in diverse physiological processes such as T-cell activation, induction of immunoglobulin secretion, initiation of hepatic acute phase protein synthesis, and stimulation of hematopoietic precursor cell proliferation and differentiation. IL-6 is also produced by synovial and endothelial cells leading to local production …
Related clinical trials recruiting now
Compare Actemra with
Explore more
How this page is built
The facts on this page are pulled directly from official U.S. FDA datasets — they are not written from memory. Each field below names the dataset it came from, so you can check it yourself.
- FDA Drug Label (openFDA) ↗ Indications, mechanism of action and pharmacologic class
- Drugs@FDA ↗ First FDA approval date and the company holding the application
- FDA Drug Shortage Database ↗ Current US supply / shortage status
Plain-English summaries and drug-class explainers are written and reviewed by Sreepriya Prasannan (MSc Digital Transformation of Life Sciences (Innopharma Education / Griffith College); MSc & BSc Botany). Data is retrieved automatically from the sources above and cross-checked with AI-assisted verification (Anthropic's Claude) — brand and generic names are matched against the exact FDA product record so that a combination product or a different formulation cannot be mistaken for the drug on this page. An editor reviews the result before publication. We describe this in full in our editorial standards and corrections policy. The FDA data on this page was last retrieved on 10 Oct 2026. How every register is built: methodology · fixes we have made: corrections log.