Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the most prevalent immune-mediated chronic 
rheumatic disease and is associated with joint destruction and disability. 
Therapeutic strategies, including biological disease-modifying antirheumatic 
drugs (bDMARDs) have improved the prognosis and quality of life of RA patients. 
Tocilizumab (TCZ) is a humanized monoclonal antibody against IL-6 receptor 
licensed in 2009 that has demonstrated clinical efficacy in various adult RA 
populations. RA management guidelines and recommendations consider TCZ as one of 
the bDMARDS indicated after methotrexate or other conventional synthetic DMARDs 
and/or TNF inhibitors failure in adult RA. Of particular interest is the 
demonstration of its effectiveness in monotherapy in comparison with other 
bDMARDs. Recent observational studies have shown good results for the safety 
profile of TCZ with no new alert signals.