Peer-review started: September 13, 2022
First decision: November 25, 2022
Revised: November 30, 2022
Accepted: December 21, 2022
Article in press: December 21, 2022
Published online: January 18, 2023
Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of arthritis that has a major impact on patient morbidity and health care services. Despite its prevalence and impact, we do not have any effective management strategy to prevent or control their manifestations. Several decades of pharmacological development have failed to deliver a disease-modifying solution to OA. This editorial article outlines the lacunae in the research efforts of the past, the challenges that we are facing at present, and the exciting opportunities we have in the future for the management of OA. OA research has to be made more personalized concerning the phenotypic and endotypic disease variants. To begin with, robust disease classification criteria need to be defined for early OA, and biomarkers to detect such early diseases to aid in patient stratification. We also need to refine our clinical research design to make them more objective to meet the demands of the patient and the regulatory agencies. Embracing the current technologies such as artificial intelligence along with the use of genomic profiling from the omics platforms, the future of OA is more promising in developing appropriate management of OA.
Core Tip: We analyzed the current landscape of management of osteoarthritis (OA) and identified the challenges we are facing to develop an effective management strategy for OA at present and commented on the exciting opportunities available in the future. We also detailed the patient stratification based on the phonotypic and endotypic disease variants. We suggest that by embracing the current technologies such as artificial intelligence, and genomic profiling of patients, personalized management of OA is amenable with predictable results tailored for individual patient needs.