New lupus drug Benlysta passes second clinical trial
The LA Times is reporting that Benlysta, a new drug designed to treat lupus, has passed an important second clinical trial. The drug's maker, Human Genome Sciences, plans to apply for FDA approval next year. If approved, Benlysta will be the first new treatment for lupus in 50 years.
In the clinical trial, 43.2% of patients who took Benlysta in addition to their usual treatment saw their symptoms reduced, compared to 33.8% of people on a placebo.
Riquent No Longer a Possibility
Earlier this month, La Jolla Pharmaceutical company halted the clinical trial of its possible lupus treatment drug Riquent. It was hoped the drug would stave off episodes of kidney inflammation caused by lupus.
An independent monitoring board called use of the drug “futile” after reviewing preliminary trial data. No new drug for lupus has been approved in 50 years.
There is just the smallest glimmer of hope, however, since La Jolla will have a chance to review the trial data and determine if its worth arguing against the monitoring board’s ruling.
Among lupus patients, La Jolla was considered “the little engine that could,” since Riquent is the only drug in the small company’s arsenal. Now that clinical trials have stopped, patients will have to look toward the next wave of possible treatment.
What's Your Type?
Today we'd like to take a moment to welcome all of those women and men who have been newly diagnosed, or know someone who has been newly diagnosed, with lupus.
Today we’re asking the question, what type of lupus do you have? And more importantly, did you know that there was more than one type?
Lupus takes on several forms and can affect any part of the body, but it most commonly attacks the skin, joints, the heart, lungs, blood, kidneys and brain. So what are the various types?
They are:
These are the most common forms, but there are other forms as well. See something missing? Let me know at lupus.guide@about.com.
Just the FAQs
If you’ve been newly diagnosed with lupus, or have lived with it for some time, you may have dozens of questions related to the disease. In an effort to collect as many of those questions as we can, provide some short answers, and then link to more in-depth information, we have launched this Frequently Asked Questions page. Here you will discover questions that have been asked, with a link to provided answers.
If you have questions that are not covered in this document, please e-mail me at lupus.guide@about.com. We hope to add to this page regularly, and welcome any and all questions you might have.
Research Studying Why Therapy Works for Some, Not Others
Interesting news: new lupus research will focus on why some therapies work well for some people with lupus, but not others.
The focus of the research study, from the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, N.Y., is on B-cells. B-cells are considered “key combat-ready immune cells.” B-cells are also often responsible for manufacturing auto-antibodies. The research should also open up the way the immune system works and mechanisms behind lupus.
Researchers are specifically looking at how bone marrow produces B-cells, and what quality control checkpoints it imposes to ensure that only healthy cells are released into the bloodstream.
This quality control system breaks down in lupus patients, and B-cells produce auto-antibodies and attack the patient's own body. This leads to the myriad symptoms and complications lupus patients suffer, including inflammation and damage to joints, skin, and, in some cases, the heart, kidneys and brain.
One treatment is known as "B-cell depletion therapy.” This therapy reduces the number of B-cells in the patient's bloodstream. It was successful for some – and of those, the success was quite noticeable. Now study specialists are trying to determine why this therapy works so remarkably for some, but not others.
Discovering why should help create and direct future therapies for lupus patients.
First Glimpse at New Lupus Drug?
It’s been 50 years since the FDA approved a drug specifically for treating lupus, and though a new drug isn’t in line quite yet, there are promising signs that we’re getting closer.
Word comes that Cephalon Inc. is dishing out $30 million to ImmuPharma P.L.C. for licensing rights to ImmuPharma's drug Lupuzor, an investigational treatment for SLE.
It’s a money-where-its-mouth is moment, as recent studies of the drug show "promising interim results." Cephalon is assuming all expenses for the next phase of drug studies, as well as for regulatory filings and subsequent commercialization of the product.
Lupuzor modulates the body’s immune system so it does not attack healthy cells without causing adverse side effects. It has the potential to halt the progression of lupus in a substantial proportion of patients. The drug continues to undergo tests in the United Kingdom.
Cephalon is located in Frazer, Pa.
Finishing Up 'Passionate Purple' Week
Saturday saw the celebration of Passionate Purple Week, created by the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) to promote lupus awareness. All women’s basketball games during the week of Jan. 17 to 24 raised funds for the Lupus Foundation of America (LFA). Money raised will fund lupus research, education, and support services. Though numbers have not yet been announced, the GNAC hoped to raise $2,500.
Schools in the GNAC include Norwich, Emmanuel, Johnson & Wales, Rivier, Emerson, Lasell, Simmons, St. Joseph's (Me.), Suffolk, St. Joseph (Conn.), Albertus Magnus, Mount Ida, and Pine Manor.
Advocacy Day 2009 Coming Soon
The Lupus Foundation of America’s Advocacy Day 2009 is coming up fast. This year’s event will take place on March 2 and 3 in Washington, D.C.
This is the 11th Advocacy Day, during which people with lupus, friends, family and other lupus advocates descend on the U.S. capital to urge lawmakers to fund further research, pass legislation – whatever they can – to help further the understanding of this disease, as well as find and create better treatment options.
This year’s Advocacy Day may focus on the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s last approval of a drug specifically for lupus. No drug targeted to the disease as been approved since 1959.
The event includes a meet and greet lunch, advocacy training sessions, and a dinner, featuring speaker Susan Manzi, M.D., MPH, LFA Board & Medical-Scientific Advisory Council Member, and Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh.
Those interested in registering for the event can do so on the LFA’s Web site.
Newly Diagnosed/Living with Lupus Web chat
Rheumatologist Don Thomas takes the stage for the next live lupus webchat from the Lupus Foundation of America. The chat takes place Jan. 14 at 3 p.m., and if past chats are any indication, this one will be just as worthwhile. Especially if you're newly diagnosed with lupus and full of questions you just can't bring yourself to ask your doc. Or you just don't have time to ask your doc in those five-minute patient exams!
You can log on to the chat in progress and/or submit a question before (or during) the chat on the Lupus Foundation of America's website.
For more information about being newly diagnosed, check out some of these features:
Memory a Problem for Lupus Patients, Study Finds
The National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver has discovered that patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) tend to have subtle problems with attention, memory and reasoning when compared to those without lupus. The research group studied 67 SLE patients free of psychiatric and neurologic disorders along with 29 healthy controls.
While the two groups showed no differences in overall brain function, SLE patients tests showed impairments in attention, memory, and reasoning. Specifically, those with lupus showed "significantly higher rates" of impairment on logical reasoning and verbal memory, along with greater impairment on visual attention and working memory.
The group is encouraging more study in what it is calling "subtle brain involvement" in lupus patients.