Conditions: Rheumatoid Arthritis
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 3080
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
This randomized, open-label, parallel-group, multicenter study will evaluate the rate of cardiovascular events with tocilizumab in comparison to etanercept in participants with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Participants will be randomized to receive intravenous (IV) 8 milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg) tocilizumab every 4 weeks or subcutaneous 50 milligrams (mg) etanercept weekly, with or without non-biologic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug (DMARD).

Detailed description:

Arms:
arm 1: None arm 2: None

Interventions: intervention 1: Etanercept intervention 2: Tocilizumab
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Participants will receive 50 mg etanercept subcutaneously weekly until switch to another RA therapy or up to 4.9 years. intervention 2: Participants will receive 8 mg/kg tocilizumab IV every 4 weeks until switch to another RA therapy or up to 4.9 years.

Protocol document: