By Supreet Agarwal
Cytokines represent the major class of all the soluble ligands targeted by FDA-approved drugs
Major cytokines’ (interferons, interleukins and chemokines) targeted therapies
Figures adapted from:
Attwood, M.M., Jonsson, J., Rask-Andersen, M. et al. Soluble ligands as drug targets.
Nat Rev Drug Discov 19, 695–710 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41573-020-0078-4
Cytokines based therapies approved in 2020
Two new treatments for patients with a condition called, deficiency of interleukin-1 receptor antagonist, a very rare genetic inflammatory condition resembling an infection throughout the body or a bone infection that happens in newborns during the first days of life.
Arcalyst (rilonacept), [see also, Kineret, below], injection, originally approved in 2008 to treat patients with different forms of cryopyrin-associated periodic syndrome, which is a rare hereditary inflammatory disorder with symptoms that can include HIV-1-like rash, fatigue, headache, fever, pain and swelling in joints, and red eyes. In 2020, this drug was also approved for the treatment of patients with deficiency of interleukin-1 receptor antagonist, a very rare genetic inflammatory condition resembling an infection throughout the body or a bone infection that happens in newborns during the first days of life.
Kineret (anakinra) [see also, Arcalyst, above], injection, first approved by CDER in 2001 to treat certain patients with active rheumatoid arthritis. It was approved in 2020, for the treatment of patients with deficiency of interleukin-1 receptor antagonist, a very rare genetic inflammatory condition resembling an infection throughout the body or a bone infection that happens in newborns during the first days of life.
Other links for cytokine-based therapies – approved to date and in trial