Chinese approval for RA drug Xeljanz

The Chinese Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) to market its has approved oral Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor, Xeljanz (tofacitinib citrate) for the treatment of adult patients with moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who have had an inadequate response or intolerance to methotrexate (MTX). It may be used in combination with MTX or other non-biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs).

US pharma giant Pfizer’s (NYSE: PFE) Xeljanz0 is the first JAK inhibitor approved for RA patients. JAK inhibitors act on the JAK pathway by working inside the cell to disrupt a signaling pathway believed to play a role in the inflammation associated with moderately to severely active RA.

Global sales of Xeljanz, which was first approved in the USA in 2012 and is now available in over 50 countries, reached $927 million in 2016.