Neuropsychiatric symptoms in people with systemic lupus erythematosus may be caused by increased levels of the inflammatory molecule interferon-alpha in their brains, according to a study published in the journal Nature. But a treatment now in clinical trials may be able to arrest the processes that lead to those symptoms. The…
A combination of voclosporin and standard therapy eliminated the inflamed-kidney condition lupus nephritis in twice as many patients as those who received standard care alone, according to a Phase 2b clinical trial. The voclosporin combo also lengthened the time it took for lupus nephritis to re-emerge, its maker, Aurinia Pharmaceuticals,…
A Phase 2a trial (NCT02185040) evaluating Celgene International‘s CC-220 in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) reports promising results, according to data presented at the Annual European Congress of Rheumatology (EULAR) 2017, held June 14-17 in Madrid. “While the outlook for patients with lupus has improved over the last 75 years, treatment…
Patients with active systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) were able to control their disease with Benlysta (belimumab) plus standard of care (prednisone), pharmaceutical giant GSK said in announcing the results from a 10-year continuation study. GSK presented the study’s results at the Annual European Congress of Rheumatology (EULAR 2017), held June 14-17 in Madrid. U.S.
The Lupus Foundation of America and American College of Rheumatology have started a campaign to let African-American and Hispanic women know that they are at higher risk of developing lupus. The aim of the “Be Fierce, Take Control” campaign is to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of lupus among the…
MyHealthTeams, a San Francisco-based start-up that creates social networks for people with lupus and other chronic diseases, has obtained a second multi-million-dollar round of financing from Qiming Venture Funds. The $7.3 million came from a $100 million fund that Seattle-based Qiming U.S. Healthcare Fund created to back American…
Exagen Diagnostics has developed a blood test to keep tabs on the conditions of people with lupus and the kidney disease lupus nephritis. The company has made the test, which it calls the AVISE SLE Monitor, available to doctors throughout the United States. The New York State Department of Health has conditionally approved the test,…
Lupus patients with a history of kidney disease, but now in remission, should not be advised against a wanted pregnancy — even if they show serologic activity, or positive anti-double-stranded DNA antibodies and low complement levels (C4), results from the PROMISSE trial show. Women in the study based on these findings, “…
An injected formulation of Benlysta (belimumab) is a safe and effective lupus treatment, according to a Phase 3 clinical trial that tested an alternative to administering the therapy intravenously. Researchers reported the results of the 52-week BLISS-SC trial in Arthritis & Rheumatology. The article was titled “…
Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) showed clinically significant improvement and a significant decrease in their use of anti-inflammatory glucocorticoids after six months of treatment with Benlysta (belimumab), the Canadian OBSErve study showed. The study results also highlight a care gap in real-world clinical settings, as more than 40 percent of physicians did not…