New measures are needed to assess disease severity in lupus in clinical trials, a study highlights. One important goal in developing such measures is to include patient-reported outcomes — which, according to the study authors, are now not used in most clinical trials assessing the effectiveness of new treatments.
Black people with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are at a higher risk of developing heart disease — especially in the early years after their diagnosis — compared with non-Black patients, a new U.S. study found. The risk of cardiovascular disease or CVD was particularly elevated in the first 12…
Adding Saphnelo (anifrolumab-fnia) to standard therapy in people with moderate to severe systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is linked to reaching a state of low disease activity faster and more frequently, according to an analysis of data from two Phase 3 clinical trials. This low disease activity state was sustained for…
A urine test that can be performed at home showed good accuracy in detecting lupus nephritis, a form of lupus marked by kidney damage, in a recent study. This test, which works with a smartphone app, “could potentially accelerate early detection of renal involvement or disease flares in lupus patients,…
Almost half of women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) who underwent assisted reproductive therapy (ART) became pregnant, and 83.3% of them had a successful delivery, a large retrospective study shows. Only a small number of women experienced lupus flares, but ART was linked to a higher incidence of premature…
Low blood levels of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) put people with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) at higher risk of experiencing disease exacerbations, or flare-ups, a study has found. “We found that low HCQ blood levels predicted lupus flares,” researchers wrote, noting that low levels can reflect poor treatment adherence but also individual…
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has allowed Aurinia Pharmaceuticals submit a new patented method of using Lupkynis (voclosporin), its approved oral treatment for lupus nephritis. The new application (No. 17/713,140), titled, “Improved Protocol for Treatment of Lupus Nephritis,” covers a method of using Lupkynis in combination with…
The approvals of new medications in the last few years have dramatically shifted the treatment landscape for lupus nephritis, a severe manifestation of lupus characterized by kidney inflammation, with a sharp drop found in the use of rituximab. That’s according to the market research group Spherix Global Insights,…
Blocking CD71, a protein that cells use to import iron, reduced the disease-driving inflammatory activity of immune cells in preclinical models of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), a new study shows. The study, “Elevated transferrin receptor impairs T cell metabolism and function in systemic lupus erythematosus,” was…
A test of galectin-3-binding protein (G3BP) levels in the urine is an easy way to distinguish lupus nephritis, an inflammation of the kidneys caused by systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), from other forms of lupus where the kidneys are not affected, a study suggested. Researchers also observed that protein levels…