Giant cell arteritis is an inflammation of medium and large arteries, most often affecting people over 50. It can cause severe headaches, jaw pain while chewing, and vision loss if untreated. Corticosteroids remain the mainstay of treatment, though newer drugs are reducing the steroid doses people need.
What's actually going on in research
Trials are testing tocilizumab and other IL-6 inhibitors to spare people from long steroid courses, along with JAK inhibitors and drugs targeting other immune pathways. Researchers are studying how to identify people at highest risk of vision loss, testing imaging methods to guide treatment decisions, and exploring whether shorter treatment courses work for some patients.
IL-6 pathway drugs
Tocilizumab was approved in 2017 and allows many people to taper steroids faster. Other IL-6 blockers are in trials to see if they work as well with less frequent dosing.
Steroid-sparing strategies
Multiple studies are testing combinations of newer drugs with lower steroid doses from the start. The goal is to control the disease while avoiding steroid side effects like bone loss and diabetes.
Imaging-guided treatment
Ultrasound and PET scans can show artery inflammation directly. Trials are testing whether using these scans to guide treatment works better than relying on symptoms and blood tests alone.
What to know before you search
Eligibility typically depends on whether you were recently diagnosed, what treatment you've already received, and whether your disease is active based on symptoms or imaging.
What types of trials are currently open
- Treatment trials — Testing new drugs, often given with steroids at first, to see if they can control the disease while allowing people to stop or lower steroid doses sooner.
- Steroid-tapering trials — Comparing different schedules for reducing steroid doses, often using newer drugs to help keep the disease quiet during the taper.
- Imaging studies — Testing whether ultrasound or PET scans can improve diagnosis, guide treatment decisions, or predict flares better than standard blood tests.
- Vision protection trials — Studying treatments to prevent vision loss in people newly diagnosed with giant cell arteritis, especially those with early eye symptoms.
- Relapse prevention studies — Following people after treatment to learn what predicts flares and testing strategies to prevent them.
Recently added Giant Cell Arteritis trials
Share your health data to improve giant cell arteritis monitoring
Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA) is a vasculitis of medium- and large-sized arteries in older adults that may lead to serious vascular complications, including permanent vision loss and aortic aneurysm formation. Glucocorticoids are effective, but relapse during tapering is common and poses a major clinical challenge, potentially contributing to prolonged glucocorticoid exposure. Symptoms are often nonspecific and conventional inflammatory markers lack sufficient reliability, particularly in patients treated with drugs targeting the interleukin-6 pathway. Thus, this project aims to evaluate different tools assisting disease activity monitoring and/or predict future relapses and higher treatment requirements. Up to 175 patients with GCA in remission will be enrolled to ensure that 144 participants complete 1 year of follow-up. Participants undergo vascular ultrasonography, including double-blinded assessment at suspected relapse, complete patient-reported outcome measures, and provide biobank blood samples.
Take a new immune therapy with a steroid taper for polymyalgia rheumatica
This is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, Phase 4, 3-group study to assess whether treatment with sarilumab at either 150 mg q2w (once every two weeks) or at 200 mg q2w, each given with a 52-week prednisone taper, is superior to placebo given with a 52-week prednisone taper in participants with early polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) and to determine the safety and tolerability of the sarilumab regimens. The study will consist of the following visits: Visit 1 (D-42 to D-1): Screening, Visit 2 (D1): Baseline, randomization, first study drug administration, Visit 3 to 12 (Week 2 to Week 52): Treatment period, Visit 13 (Week 52): End of Treatment (EOT) visit, Visit 14 (Week 58): End of Study (EOS) visit.
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