News

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted fast track status to baricitinib for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients, the treatment’s developers, Eli Lilly and Incyte, announced. Fast track designation is intended to speed the therapy’s development and review for lupus patients, enabling more frequent communication with…

Adding an oral immunosuppressive agent and hydroxychloroquine to routine intravenous cyclophosphamide significantly increases response rates among patients with lupus nephritis without increasing the rate of severe adverse events, a randomized study found. The study, “Combined immunosuppressive treatment (CIST) in lupus nephritis: a multicenter, randomized controlled study,” was published…

Twelve weeks of aerobic exercise improved cardiovascular and respiratory fitness in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), but without positive changes in arterial stiffness that was this small study’s main goal. Results also found no increase in signs of inflammation or oxidative stress in the exercise group compared to a control group urged to…

Patients with autoimmune diseases — such as psoriasis, lupus, and arthritis — tend to accumulate collagen, a connective tissue protein, in their blood vessels, which traps cholesterol in arteries and heart tissue, a mouse study has found. These findings begin to explain why these patients have a significantly higher risk for heart…