Introduction: Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic idiopathic autoimmune inflammatory disorder, primarily affecting the gastrointestinal system. There are many patients affected that do not respond well to therapy and many others to which there is a loss of efficacy every year. The proportion of patients who have already experienced anti-TNF therapy is constantly increasing, making the development of new drugs with alternative mechanisms of action an important need for the treatment of UC.

Areas covered: This review aims on emerging drugs in the treatment of UC and reviews data on their efficacy and safety.

Expert opinion: UC, for many years, comparatively to CD, received little attention for several possible reasons, especially because it was not considered as a progressive disease able to induce irreversible bowel damage. This has led to lower investments by the scientific community and a slower development of therapeutic options for UC. In the past few years, this trend has started to change. In fact, new promising drugs have been developed and others are emerging with positive results. Although many treatment modalities have recently been approved, additional drugs are currently being investigated and will probably be part of the UC treatment regimen in the coming years.

简介：溃疡性结肠炎（UC）是一种慢性特发性自身免疫性炎症性疾病，主要影响胃肠系统。每年都有许多受影响的患者对治疗反应不佳，还有许多患者的疗效下降。已经接受过抗TNF治疗的患者比例不断增加，使得开发具有替代作用机制的新药成为UC治疗的重要需求。

涵盖领域：本次审查针对治疗 UC 的新兴药物，并审查其功效和安全性数据。

专家意见： 多年来，与 CD 相比，UC 由于多种可能的原因而很少受到关注，特别是因为它不被认为是一种能够引起不可逆肠道损伤的进行性疾病。这导致科学界的投资减少以及 UC 治疗方案的开发缓慢。在过去的几年里，这种趋势开始发生变化。事实上，新的有前途的药物已经被开发出来，其他药物也正在出现并取得了积极的成果。尽管许多治疗方式最近已获得批准，但其他药物目前正在研究中，并且可能在未来几年成为 UC 治疗方案的一部分。