Tofacitinib Receives FDA Approval for Children with pcJIA
Post Date: December 10, 2020 | Publish Date:
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved the Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor tofacitinib (sold by Pfizer Inc. as XELJANZ® ) for the treatment of children and adolescents 2 years and older with active polyarticular course juvenile idiopathic arthritis (pcJIA).
Hermine Brunner, MD, MSc, MBA, Director, Division of Rheumatology at Cincinnati Children’s and Scientific Director of the Pediatric Rheumatology Collaborative Study Group has been studying JIA and potential treatments for many years and is quoted in Pfizer’s announcement.
“Although there are already several advanced treatments available, tofacitinib will be an appealing new option given it does not require injections or infusions. These can be quite burdensome to both children with pcJIA and their caretakers. The FDA approval of Xeljanz for pcJIA is positive news for this community as it provides a new advanced treatment option in an oral formulation.”
Brunner presented data about the drug at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Meeting in 2019. Read More.
