Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease, which is a worldwide disease, with a global prevalence rate of about 0.24%. RA pathogenesis is complex and has a high disability rate, depressing the life quality of patients seriously and aggravating the economic burden of the society. Effective treatment of RA has become a focus of the global pharmaceutical industry. According to the IMS Health statistics, the global drug expenditure for the treatment of RA amounted to $21.4 billion in 2015. This paper uses literature investigation, database search, such as Thomson Reuters, IMS Health etc., as well as data statistics and analysis, to make an analysis on the global RA drug development status, market, targets, patent and other information. Medicine treatment for RA includes anti-inflammatory drugs, anti-rheumatic drugs, hormone drugs, biological agents, combination of drugs, immune reconstitution, etc. Therapeutic target involves tumor necrosis factor alpha, cycloxygenase, B-lymphocyte antigen, interleukin, nuclear transcription factor kB, small molecule kinase and so on. In recent years, the development of biotechnology drugs in the treatment of RA and other autoimmune diseases has made an unprecedented success, small molecule drugs and biosimilar products will also play an important role in the future market.

rheumatoid arthritis  /  autoimmune disease  /  biological agents  /  small molecule drugs  /  tumor necrosis factor