News

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…

Youngsters with an allergy-susceptibility condition known as atopy have worse cases of lupus when diagnosed and poorer outcomes than patients without atopy, a study reports. The research, “Atopy in children with juvenile systemic lupus erythematosus is associated with severe disease,” was published in the journal PLoS One. Juvenile systemic…

Voclosporin, an investigational therapy developed by Canada’s Aurinia Pharmaceuticals, is more effective at treating lupus nephritis (LN) than other calcineurin inhibitors, according to data from the ongoing Phase 2B AURA-LV (AURA) trial (NCT02141672). Dr. James Tumlin, the study’s lead author and clinical investigator, gave a presentation, “Steroid Sparing Efficacy of Voclosporin in…

American lupus patients will get an unusual chance in person or online to tell therapy developers and regulators what future treatments ought to do for them. Three national organizations are sponsoring the Washington-area gathering on Sept. 25, which those unable to make the trip can participate in by watching a…

Researchers at Michigan State University have received a five-year $2.3 million grant to learn how the omega-3 fatty acid DHA can stop the development of systemic lupus erythematosus after exposure to silica. The team’s earlier research showed that eating food rich in DHA acted to prevent silica from…

Celgene and IMIDomics are teaming up to develop new approaches to treating immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs) like lupus. The collaboration will give Celgene access to Barcelona-based IMIDomics’ database, which includes treatment and molecular data from patients who have the diseases. Kay goals are to identify new biomarkers for the disorders…

Servier and ILTOO Pharma have joined forces with an exclusive license agreement for the development and commercialization of the investigational drug ILT-101 (low-dose interleukin-2) to target systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and other autoimmune diseases. The companies expect that results of the ongoing Phase 2 clinical trial (NCT02955615)…

Women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) receiving immunosuppressive treatment may be at risk of developing high-grade cervical dysplasia and cervical cancer, compared to patients receiving hydroxychloroquine therapy alone. Although more studies are necessary to confirm these findings, researchers emphasized that SLE women should consider being vaccinated against the human papillomavirus (HPV)…

Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are twice as likely to suffer a potentially fatal pulmonary embolism (PE) as people without this form of lupus, according to researchers at Atlanta’s Morehouse School of Medicine. Their study, “Prevalence of Pulmonary Embolism Among Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Discharges,” appeared in the Journal of Clinical Rheumatology.

A recent 12-year follow-up study performed on first-degree relatives (FDRs) of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) showed an increased frequency of autoantibodies such as anti-nuclear antibodies (ANA) when compared to healthy controls. The study, “Autoantibodies persist in relatives to systemic lupus erythematosus patients during 12 years follow-up,” was published…