Verto, an biotechnology company based in Israel, reported success with the Lupusorb™, a device which cleaned the participants blood of harmful autoantibodies. The research study involved 10 lupus patients at Hebrew University Medical Center is Israel.
The device works by incorporating a new twist to the existing science of plasmapheresis (in which the blood is removed from the patient’s body, cleansed, and returned to the body). The Lupusorb™ is a filter column containing a peptide that can bind to lupus-causing autoantibodies, remove them from the blood, and return the blood back to the patients.
The results of the study showed a statistically significant drop in patients' autoantibodies at weeks one and three, but did return to pre-treatment levels at week four. Researchers consider this a success, however, because autoantibodies did not "rebound," or exceed pre-treatment levels.
