Tofacitinib

Tofacitinib (formerly tasocitinib, CP-690,550) is a drug of the janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor class, discovered and developed by the National Institutes of Health and Pfizer. Marketed as Xeljanz and Jakvinus.

It is currently approved for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in the United States and other countries.

It has demonstrated effectiveness in the treatment of psoriasis in Phase 3 studies. It is being studied for treatment of inflammatory bowel disease, and other immunological diseases, as well as for the prevention of organ transplant rejection.

Approvals and indications

Rheumatoid arthritis

In November 2012, the U.S. FDA approved tofacitinib "to treat adults with moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis who have had an inadequate response to, or who are intolerant of, methotrexate." It was later approved in Japan, Switzerland and others (but not the EU). It is marketed as Xeljanz in all regions except for Russia where it will be marketed as Jakvinus or Jaquinus.