DMOAD developments: present and future

Abstract

Osteoarthritis (OA), by far the most common form of arthritis, has a growing impact on health care. Progress in understanding its pathophysiological processes has led to the identification of promising therapeutic targets, with disease-modifying osteoarthritis drugs (DMOADs) having the most potential. Numerous nonpharmaceutical measures and pharmacological interventions that slow the progression of the disease also have been developed. Several new classes of molecules that inhibit one or more OA pathophysiological processes have been discovered, and a number of these are under clinical evaluation to test their potential to alter the disease process in humans. Recent data from clinical trials have demonstrated that agents able to specifically block key disease mechanisms can effectively retard the progression of structural changes in knee OA patients. These studies are ushering the field into a new era in the development of DMOADs and, hence, the prospect of a cure for this disease.