The Alliance for Lupus Research (ALR), the Lupus Research Institute (LRI) and the S.L.E. Lupus Foundation have merged to form the largest private sector organization dedicated to advance lupus research – The Lupus Research Alliance (LRA). With a new board of directors in place, the Lupus Research Alliance is geared…
A new assessment tool, called the lupus impact tracker or LIT, is valid and can be used by doctors in the clinic to track symptoms in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and better discuss the disease with patients, researchers report. The study evaluating the tool, “Prospective Validation of the Lupus Impact Tracker:…
Non-Europeans more often carry genes increasing the likelihood of developing systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), explaining the higher disease rates observed in people outside of Europe, according to a report by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre at Guy’s and St Thomas’ and King’s College London.
The Lupus Foundation of America (LFA) was awarded a one-year, $1 million grant from the Office of Minority Health at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop an education program on clinical trials that educates and recruits minorities and the disadvantaged, especially groups that are underrepresented in clinical research.
Air pollution was strongly linked to disease activity in children and adolescents with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in the study, “Air pollution exposure may worsen lupus in children,” presented at the recent European League Against Rheumatism Annual Congress (EULAR 2016) in London. SLE, also known as lupus, is an inflammatory condition…
Men and women respond differently to infections, a gender difference in immune responses that could help explain why some autoimmune diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and multiple sclerosis, are more likely to afflict one sex than the other. A review article by Sara Reardon, a science writer, explored this idea. It was published in …
Anthera Pharmaceuticals reported that the company’s Phase 3 clinical trial of blisibimod in patients with severe systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) began recently with researchers screening the study’s first patient. Called CHABLIS 7.5, the study is the second Phase 3 trial to explore the drug in lupus patients with and without lupus…
The Lupus Agencies of New York State (LANYS) announced two advocacy triumphs this legislative session — passage of the Lupus Education and Outreach Bill and a bill revising Step Therapy protocols — in both the state Senate and Assembly. If signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the bills will become law in New…
Dutch biopharmaceutical company Argenx recently reported initial data from its Phase 1 multiple ascending dose clinical trial of ARGX-113 in healthy volunteers. ARGX-113 is designed for the management of acute autoimmune crisis (sudden and severe onset of symptoms between periods of remission) and could potentially be used for many rare medical…
Aurinia Pharmaceuticals recently released an analysis of the first seven patients to complete 24 weeks in its open-label, exploratory AURION clinical trial to access the short-term predictors of response using voclosporin in combination with mycophenolate mofetil and oral corticosteroids in patients with active lupus nephritis (LN). At 24 weeks, 57…