Lupus is an auto-immune disease that afflicts more than five million people world-wide. Trial results of a new drug shows promise as a breakthrough treatment. It is expected to pass U.S. Food and Drug administration tests by the end of next year.
Its been fifty years since a treatment was developed specifically for Lupus, but all that is about to change.
Phase 3 trials of the new drug Benlysta created by Human Genome Sciences (HGS) has the company and Lupus experts excited.
[Barry Labinger, HGS Executive Vice President]:
"When we got these results, there were tears in many of our eyes because we so anticipated being able to cross this threshold and make such a difference."
Lupus is a chronic auto-immune disorder which triggers the body's immune system to produce anti-bodies to attack its own healthy tissue and organs.
Its symptoms include extreme fatigue, skin rashes and painfully swollen joints.
The disease can also lead to more serious conditions like kidney failure, pneumonia and even death.
Twenty four-year-old New Yorker Carolyn Sayre says the signs of Lupus are not always obvious to others but are almost always debilitating for those afflicted with the disease.
[Carolyn Sayre, Lupus Sufferer]:
"The hardest thing about having Lupus is definitely that it's an invisible disease. Everyone always says you look great, even when you feel terrible. And I think the tough thing for many patients is that it's not the kind of disease that's going to necessarily make you walk with a cane all the time, or confine you to a wheelchair. But it makes you feel achy and tired and it sort of feels like every single day you're waking up with a bad case of the flu."
Most Lupus patients like Carolyn take a daily regimen of steroid-based drugs originally designed for other diseases.
The drugs do bring partial relief to her Lupus symptoms but also produce unpleasant side effects.
[Barry Labinger, HGS Executive Vice President]:
"Benlysta helps to control the disease. It can improve the symptoms, reduce disease activity, it can potentially prevent future flares of the disease and, we hope, prevent the ongoing progression of the disease but patients would have to take the drug chronically in order to continue to get the benefits."
The Lupus Foundation of America has been overwhelmed by the response of its members.
[Sandra Raymond, CEO, Lupus Foundation of America]:
"It's incredible, I mean our website nearly crashed. People now have hope. You know this is not just the results of a clinical trial we've heard about this week, what we have heard is that it's possible to bring this disease under control. Let's not talk about a cure because this drug isn't a cure, but it is possible to bring this disease under control, and I think people with lupus haven't felt that."
Benlysta is designed to fight the naturally produced anti-bodies in Lupus patients, with man-made antibodies.
The Phase 3 clinical trials involved more than 850 sufferers in Latin America, Asia and Eastern Europe over a one-year period.
The results showed a marked improvement for the majority of participants.
A final round of testing on patients in North America and Europe will conclude in November.
Human Genome Sciences is optimistic about the results and anticipate Benlysta will be available to Lupus sufferers by the end of 2010.
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First Drug in 50 years to Treat Lupus Releasedby NTDTV617 views
Well this is great but it does nothing when it comes to diagnosing lupus.
jhartist123 1 year ago