Vol. 3 No. 6 (2023)
Health Technology Reviews

Alternative Therapies to Immunoglobulin for Idiopathic Inflammatory Myopathies

Published June 27, 2023

Key Messages

  • We did not find any evidence regarding the clinical effectiveness and safety of alternative treatments to IV Immunoglobulin (IVIG) compared to IVIG or placebo for idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) that met our inclusion criteria for this review.
  • Three evidence-based guidelines provide recommendations regarding IVIG and other drugs to manage IIM. However, we did not find any recommendations regarding alternative treatments to IVIG specifically.
  • Rituximab may be considered as another option to IVIG to treat IIM-related skeletal muscle inflammation (1 guideline) or skin manifestations (1 guideline) resistant to treatment with steroids.
  • In juvenile IIM, rituximab or IVIG can be used as adjunct care in case of treatment failure.