Lupkynis (voclosporin) is now approved in Japan to treat lupus nephritis, a complication of lupus marked by kidney damage and inflammation. The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare approved the treatment’s use in combination with the immunosuppressant mycophenolate mofetil. Otsuka Pharmaceutical filed a new drug…
The vast majority of people with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) experience musculoskeletal symptoms, marked by pain, ache, discomfort, and numbness, often in the joints, primarily the hands, wrists, and knees. That’s according to a study from researchers in Egypt, which also found that musculoskeletal symptoms were associated with a…
The first patient has been dosed in the U.S. as part of a clinical trial testing AlloNK, an experimental natural killer (NK) cell therapy candidate, in patients with lupus nephritis, one of the most common and severe complications of lupus. The open-label Phase 1 trial (NCT06265220) is…
Depression is highly prevalent among people with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), but often goes undiagnosed, according to a single center study in Pakistan. The “treatment of depression is a vital component in the management of these patients and should be offered where appropriate,” the researchers wrote in “…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a clinical trial to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of Synthekine‘s two-component immunotherapy for the treatment of certain patients with lupus, without using lymphodepletion, a process in which chemotherapy is used beforehand to eliminate disease-causing immune cells. The multicenter, dose…
Scientist Akiko Iwasaki will receive the Dr. William E. Paul Distinguished Innovator Award (DIA) to investigate whether ancient viral DNA in our cells is a potential trigger for lupus. The $1 million award from the Lupus Research Alliance (LRA) will fund a four-year research project to investigate whether the…
A first person has been dosed in a Phase 1 clinical trial of VENT-03, Ventus Therapeutics’ oral treatment candidate for lupus and other inflammatory diseases. VENT-03 is an inhibitor of cGAS, a protein whose activation has been implicated in lupus and other autoimmune diseases. “cGAS has historically proven an…
Among people with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), those who develop pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), or high blood pressure in the vessels that supply the lungs, appear to be younger at diagnosis and have more severe disease, a study in Japan has found. In SLE patients with PAH, immune-suppressing glucocorticoids…
AlloNK, an off-the-shelf experimental natural killer (NK) cell therapy being developed by Artiva Biotherapeutics, soon will enter clinical testing, in combination with rituximab, for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients with active lupus nephritis. This follows the approval of the company’s investigational new drug application by the U.S.
The Lupus Foundation of America has announced this year’s winners of the Gina M. Finzi Memorial Student Summer Fellowship Program, designed to support students working in lupus research. Each award, worth $4,000, includes mentorship by an experienced researcher in the field of lupus. Winners, all young scientists, are pursuing…