Kyverna Therapeutics is planning to launch a Phase 1/2 trial in Germany to test KYV-101, its investigational cell therapy for lupus nephritis, a lupus complication characterized by kidney damage. The study was approved by the Paul Ehrlich Institute (PEI), which is responsible for examining clinical trials of investigational…
A Phase 2b clinical trial of ESK-001, an oral treatment for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), has begun dosing patients, according to its developer Alumis. The trial, called LUMUS, is expected to enroll about 388 adults with moderately to severely active SLE who test positive for self-reactive antibodies (autoantibodies).
Trethera will use a $0.6 million Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant to advance TRE-515, its lead candidate for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The grant comes from the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), from which the company…
The first patient has been enrolled in a Phase 1 clinical trial testing KYV-101, Kyverna Therapeutics’ candidate cell therapy for refractory lupus nephritis, a serious lupus complication characterized by kidney damage and inflammation. The open-label trial, which follows FDA’s green light in November, is actively recruiting nine to…
Blooms in the growth of a specific species of gut bacteria, called Ruminococcus blautia gnavus or RG, may trigger disease flares in people with lupus, a new study suggests. “Our findings provide the strongest evidence to date that silent growths of Ruminococcus blautia gnavus are tied to active serious…
The Lupus Research Alliance has awarded its 2023 Lupus Insight Prize to a researcher for her pioneering discovery that mutations in the TLR7 gene are a cause of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Carola Vinuesa, MD, PhD, assistant research director at The Francis Crick Institute in London, was given…
A new project incubating at Duke Advanced Practice Provider Leadership Institute (APPLI) seeks to foster a team approach to lupus care at Duke Health in Durham, North Carolina. The project is being led by Keisha-Gaye O’Garo, a clinical psychologist, and Karen McCain, a psychiatric nurse practitioner, both from…
Three new Phase 3 clinical trials testing the experimental therapy ianalumab in people with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and lupus nephritis are now recruiting patients. All three trials are being sponsored by Novartis, the company developing ianalumab. Lupus Therapeutics, the clinical research affiliate of the Lupus Research Alliance,…
Lupkynis (voclosporin) combined with background lupus treatments better preserved kidney function among a subgroup of lupus nephritis patients with particularly high protein levels in the urine (proteinuria) compared with background therapy alone. Notably, these benefits were observed regardless of patients’ baseline demographic or clinical characteristics, and they were…
A year of treatment with upadacitinib led to significant disease activity reductions for people with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), according to data from the Phase 2 SLEek trial. It was similarly effective when used with the experimental treatment elsubrutinib, in a combination called ABBV-599, the researchers found. These and…