title: Small molecular compounds in development for rheumatoid arthritis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To provide an update on the development of small molecular compounds as novel therapeutics for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. The development of such orally available agents has long been hoped for in rheumatology; in the past year, it has become clear that the expectations are becoming fulfilled.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Over the past year, a large number of clinical trials have been published or presented reporting positive therapeutic results with tyrosine kinase inhibitors, a large class of orally available drugs that are also being developed in other medical fields. This class of drugs includes the Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors, and data on tofacitinib published during the past year have attested to the biologic-like efficacy of this drug and supported its subsequent U.S. Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) approval. Positive clinical trial results have also been reported for several other JAK inhibitors including baricitinib. Several other JAK inhibitors and other small molecular entities are also being developed in studies ranging from preclinical models to large clinical trials.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Tyrosine kinase inhibition has emerged as a major new direction in rheumatoid arthritis therapy.
authors.affiliation: Unit for Clinical Therapy Research, Inflammatory Diseases, The Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Ronald F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: van Vollenhoven
mesh_terms: D018501:Antirheumatic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D053612:Janus Kinases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D047428:Protein Kinase Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors
chemical_list: D018501:Antirheumatic Agents; D047428:Protein Kinase Inhibitors; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; D053612:Janus Kinases