South-East Asia Rheumatoid Arthritis Therapeutics Market 2022 South-East Asia Rheumatoid Arthritis Therapeutics | Page 2

which dominate the treatment market for RA patients who are refractory to traditional disease-
modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARD). Despite this, 30% of RA patients fail to attain a clinical
response when treated with TNF-α inhibitors. However, other targeted programs, as well as newly
marketed small-molecule DMARDs such as the Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor Xeljanz (tofacitinib),
have the potential to replace ineffective TNF-α inhibitors. Recently published study results of
Xeljanz have shown a significant reduction in the risk of developing cardiac diseases such as heart
attack and stroke in patients with RA.
Despite the superior efficacy of recently marketed therapies over traditional DMARD therapies,
there is a need to improve safety in the therapeutic landscape. Elevated rates of infection are a
frequent consequence of the immunosuppression involved in treatments, but this is required to
suppress the autoimmune responses responsible for the symptoms of the condition. As a result,
these biological therapies are not recommended to patients who are susceptible to infection.
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In addition, there is a need to create biologics with more convenient and less invasive drug-
delivery methods, as all existing therapies are administered subcutaneously or intravenously.
These routes of administration are frequently associated with pain, rash, and allergic reactions at
the injection or infusion site, and in the case of infusion flu-like illness, fever, chills, nausea, and
headache. Therefore convenient and safe administration without significant compromise of therapy
efficacy remains an unmet need.
Although the recently approved drug Xeljanz is an orally administered small-molecule drug,
indicated as a second-line treatment for RA patients who have not shown an adequate response to
methotrexate, and as a third-line therapy for patients who have not responded sufficiently to
biologics, it carries a black-box warning in the US due to the safety issues of serious infections and
malignancy.
Scope
The current South-East Asia RA market contains novel products, including Xeljanz, a JAK inhibitor;
and Actemra (tocilizumab), an IL-6 receptor inhibitor.
- What are the competitive advantages of the existing novel drugs?
There are over 450 active pipeline molecules, and most of the late-stage investigational drug
candidates feature improved dosing regimens and administration routes in comparison to currently
marketed products and combination therapies.
- Which classes of novel drugs are most prominent in the pipeline?
- What is the potential for pipeline products to address unmet needs in the RA market?
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