Vonoprazan, Tapinarof, and Tirzepatide: FDA Novel Drug Approvals in May 2022

There were two novel small molecules approved in May 2022:

• vonoprazan (Voquezna): a potassium-competitive acid blocker (PCAB)

• tapinarof (Vtama): an aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) agonist

And one novel large molecule approval:

• tirzepatide (Mounjaro): a glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) receptor and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist

This deep dive explores each drug in more detail, including the industry context, the clinical data, the target rationale, mechanisms of action, and drug origins.

See our overview of all 36 of the novel small molecule and large molecule FDA approvals for 2022 here.