Summary The medication, known as baricitinib, is expected to be available sometime this fall.
Washington (Online): Patients with moderate-to-severe rheumatoid arthritis will soon have a new way to manage their condition.
A drug used to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA) was approved this summer by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The medication, known as baricitinib, is expected to be available sometime this fall.
The oral pill is taken once a day. It’s for people with RA who have not responded well to one or more anti-TNF agents, which are a type of biologic drug.
Baricitinib is a targeted DMARD, or disease-modifying antirheumatic drug. It acts as a Janus-kinase, or JAK, inhibitor.
Baricitinib is only the second JAK inhibitor in its class to be approved. The first, Xeljanz, has been around since 2012.
Scientists are calling baricitinib a “small-molecule targeted agent” instead of a biologic. It is expected to be significantly cheaper than most biologic drugs, especially since it’s in an oral pill format.
The drug, manufactured by Eli Lilly, will come in a 2-mg dose. It was originally going to be presented as having 4-mg and 2-mg options, but the FDA only approved it in its 2-milligram formulation.
