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Tirabrutinib: First Approval

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Abstract

Tirabrutinib (Velexbru®) is an orally administered, small molecule, Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor being developed by Ono Pharmaceutical and its licensee Gilead Sciences for the treatment of autoimmune disorders and haematological malignancies. Tirabrutinib irreversibly and covalently binds to BTK in B cells and inhibits aberrant B cell receptor signalling in B cell-related cancers and autoimmune diseases. In March 2020, oral tirabrutinib was approved in Japan for the treatment of recurrent or refractory primary central nervous system lymphoma. Tirabrutinib is also under regulatory review in Japan for the treatment of Waldenström's macroglobulinemia and lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma. Clinical development is underway in the USA, Europe and Japan for autoimmune disorders, chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, B cell lymphoma, Sjogren's syndrome, pemphigus and rheumatoid arthritis. This article summarizes the milestones in the development of tirabrutinib leading to the first approval of tirabrutinib for the treatment of recurrent or refractory primary central nervous system lymphoma in Japan.

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    Sohita Dhillon

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  1. Sohita Dhillon
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Correspondence to Sohita Dhillon.

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The preparation of this review was not supported by any external funding.

Conflict of interest

During the peer review process the manufacturer of the agent under review was offered an opportunity to comment on the article. Changes resulting from any comments received were made by the authors on the basis of scientific completeness and accuracy. Sohita Dhillon is a contracted employee of Adis International Ltd./Springer Nature, is responsible for the article content and declares no relevant conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Enhanced material for this AdisInsight Report can be found at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.12210275.

This profile has been extracted and modified from the AdisInsight database. AdisInsight tracks drug development worldwide through the entire development process, from discovery, through pre-clinical and clinical studies to market launch and beyond.

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Dhillon, S. Tirabrutinib: First Approval. Drugs 80, 835–840 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40265-020-01318-8

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