Introduction: Osteoarthritis (OA) is the leading cause of pain, loss of function and disability in the elderly, with the knee being the most impactful joint affected. Currently, there is still no 'cure' in OA treatment.

Areas covered: The authors review the current and emerging therapies for knee OA including traditional OA medications (oral and topical NSAIDs, acetaminophen, and opioids) and emerging treatments including disease-modifying OA drugs. The failures of agents that have been through clinical trials are also summarized. Furthermore, the authors provide their expert perspectives on the future of pharmacotherapy for knee osteoarthritis.

Expert opinion: Compared to traditional OA medications, new disease-modifying OA drugs that act by reducing inflammation and increasing cartilage repair show promise to address the unmet need of disease modification. Many of these new drugs, however, are in the preclinical stage. Long-term RCTs are expected to identify the safety and efficacy of novel OA pharmacotherapy medicines.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	osteoarthritis, disease modification, pain, pharmacotherapy
Research Division:	Biomedical and Clinical Sciences
Research Group:	Clinical sciences
Research Field:	Rheumatology and arthritis
Objective Division:	Health
Objective Group:	Clinical health
Objective Field:	Clinical health not elsewhere classified
UTAS Author:	Ding, C (Professor Chang-Hai Ding)
ID Code:	138805
Year Published:	2020
Web of Science® Times Cited:	33
Deposited By:	Menzies Institute for Medical Research
Deposited On:	2020-04-30
Last Modified:	2021-06-23
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